


X Chronicles: Doppler Effect

by CyrexWingblade



Series: X Chronicles [3]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Megaman X AU, reinterpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 97,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrexWingblade/pseuds/CyrexWingblade
Summary: [continuation of Lazarus Zero] Suspicions mount around the utopian Reploid settlement of Doppler Town. Has the Maverick virus truly been cured, or do X and his allies have to fight a new war on all fronts just to avoid genocide?
Relationships: Alia/X (Rockman), Iris/Zero (Rockman)
Series: X Chronicles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993861
Kudos: 2





	1. Infiltration

“All due respect to our guest, but don’t you think you’re coming off as a bit of a warmonger?” the suit-clad human asked, leaning onto his part of the massive, semi-circular desk in the meeting chamber.

Holo-corders snapped and flashed as Megaman X looked up from his small table and chair to the councilors around the table before him. “It is not warmongering to pose concerns on life or death risks, Councilor Teagan. Dr. Doppler’s ‘cure’ is questionable at best, and the blatant refusal of peer review only makes it more concerning.”

Another councilor spoke, an older woman on the far left. “Yet the fact remains that all Mavericks your own organization has captured in the last year treated by Doppler’s lab have become model Reploid citizens. Even this ‘Doppler Town’ settlement is commonly described by visitors as all but utopian.”

“As are the millions of Reploids we didn’t capture because they weren’t infected. So far, all we have is complete ignorance. Standard, scientific peer review should not be a threat to this supposed cure, and if it can be verified in effect, we all have reason to celebrate. Until such time, however, it is dangerously negligent to assume all is well and move on.”

Teagan rattled his hands and shook his head. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the Maverick Hunter who brought us this revelation, that this entire Maverick mess is a computer virus, would be the biggest opponent of the obviously effective cure. It seems to me that you’re just concerned about losing your job, Maverick Hunter X.”

X frowned faintly, more holo-flashes resulting. “If you think I have any great desire to continue slaughtering my own kind to keep innocents safe, you don’t know me very well, Councilor. However, that’s also beside the point of this meeting, isn’t it?

“Whatever you suspect of my motivations, the fact remains that Dr. Doppler’s lab was one of seven labs given samples of the virus data to work with, and all six of the other labs are only confounded by the virus. I have here,” he lifted a datapad, “signed statements from the heads of each lab confirming their scientific concerns, and requesting peer review.”

Teagan retorted, “So they can copyright it first.”

More flashes.

Another councilor leaned forward. “Councilor Teagan, let’s keep the inappropriate commentary to a minimum, please? This Reploid raises a valid concern, which is why this session has been convened. The public outcry caused by knowledge of the virus demands immediate action and attention, and while I don’t wish to look a gift-horse in the mouth, we are dealing with dangerous variables. I, for one, would support cautionary measures, at the very least.”

X added, “Just to address the accusation of the greed of these other labs, however, I would point out that by codified global law, Dr. Doppler’s lab has clear proprietary rights to any cure-related data, especially if it is submitted for peer review in official and documented data banks. He would be completely protected and still see all of his profits. There is nothing to lose by affording analysis other than the suspicion that hiding the data is creating.”

“All of which delays the further application of a one-hundred percent successful test pool,” Teagan rejoined, leaning back with a roll of his eyes.

“One-hundred percent appearance of success, councilor. Nothing has been verified,” X pointed out.

Councilor Teagan leaned in again. “Let’s look at some things that have been verified then, shall we? Such as your noted disregard for chain of command, to the point that it has gotten your allies destroyed. Or did you think we forgot that part when you went through so much trouble to bring Maverick Hunter Zero back from the dead?”

Yammering started up across the entire council, flashes almost blinding the chamber. X looked at Teagan across the room, and privately the councilor faltered. There was a coldness in those eyes for a moment that froze his spine.

“Order, order!” the councilor in the center shouted, slamming a metal gavel on her part of the bench. “Maverick Hunter X’s previous record has nothing to do with this session, Councilor Teagan.” The noise settled a bit further, and the same councilor went on. “Maverick Hunter X, full peer review and other processes will take time to push through, and the test cases are too successful for us to ignore them in turn. Unless you have alternative recommendations, we can’t put anything into immediate action.”

X closed his eyes for a moment, and then spoke up, “You can remove all civilians from Doppler Town immediately. You can also have the test-case recipients in posts at sensitive locations put on leave pending review.”

Several councilors clamored.

“They were inoculated specifically to avoid that kind of down-time!”

“Evacuate hundreds of people on suspicion alone?”

The central councilor banged the gavel again. “Order!” she rolled her eyes at her comrades. “I’ve been reviewing the reports Maverick Hunter X transmitted to us as part of his testimony. I find the stone-walling of peer review troubling myself. Megaman X, the Reploids in sensitive posts are already under observation… but I will put forward a motion to have Doppler Town evacuated as a cautionary measure pending further review of the Maverick cure.”

As the council clamored, X nodded. “Thank you, councilor.”

* * *

Alia flicked off the display holo, and smiled over at X. “You look pretty good on the holoviewer, you know, X?”

It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Alia, honestly.”

She giggled, and adjusted some controls on a console. They were in the X-Hunter bunker together, each working at different consoles.

“I’m just glad the vote passed for that much. Civilians will be out of the way,” X muttered quietly.

Alia kept working, but replied, “I’m never against caution, but you seem completely certain this a trick, X.”

“Look at the list of test-recipients you compiled for us,” X offered, sitting down and leaning back, rubbing the bridge of his nose. His white, gold, red, and blue armor was glistening even in the dim light of the screens.

Alia remembered it flawlessly of course. “They were all volunteers before any contact with Dr. Doppler was made.”

“But Dr. Doppler approved those names. Look at their stations.”

Alia paused, and adjusted something different on her console. “I do see your concern, but there are security measures in place at all of those facilities, and none of the recipients have much security clearance.”

“If they were given Dr. Doppler’s clearance?”

Alia’s hands stopped over her console. She re-analyzed mentally, and her eyes flared. “…Perfectly placed to shut down the entire city.”

X lowered his hand, looking at his map of the city on his console. “See why we deployed the teams now?”

“It made sense already, but… yeah, that’s…” Alia’s face tightened. “…I think part of me was blinding myself. Hoping…”

X bowed his head, eyes shutting. “I know.”

Alia glanced over her shoulder at him, frowning gently. _No one wants this over more than him, but he’s the only one who never lets his hopes get up. I wish that wasn’t justified…_

* * *

Dr. Doppler stepped up to a console with a mechaniloid operator already working on it. It showed a grid-map of a massive network of facilities nestled inside a mountain range. He stroked his long, pointed beard, and his green optics sharpened. “Everyone is in position, yes?”

“Yes, doctor,” the mechaniloid replied in a monotone female voice.

“Deploy the strike team, and keep stealth systems at maximum capacity. I don’t want anyone to know where they are until the lasers are firing.”

“Initiating, doctor.”

“And seal the compound. Dispatch the orders. By the end of the day, we’ll be in control.”

The crimson pylons spanning the gap in the mountains around the huge, almost city-like network of facilities started to flash with lights as armored bulwarks rose out of the ground between them, sealing into a massive guard wall. A dome of light erupted around the entire perimeter, closing over the compound in a core-pulse.

* * *

“Hold my calls, Anita, I’m taking some personal time,” Councilor Teagan explained dismissively as he marched past a Reploid in clean white armor working at a station outside his office.

“Yes, councilor,” she echoed pleasantly, and idly watched him vanish in his office, the security seals clamping over the frame.

Then her comm beeped, and she touched the side of her helmet. Her optics flattened of emotion, and she stood up. “Orders received.”

She started for the door, drawing a pistol out of her torso compartment at her back. Her free hand planted itself on the security console at the door, and it suddenly crackled and sizzled, the door rushing open.

Councilor Teagan snapped up in his chair, nearly choking on his shot of liquor. “H-how the blazes did you get the code to--!? Oh G’d…”

Her pistol aimed at his head, his expression twisting into a sneer. “That tie makes you look really stupid, by the way. I lied!”

Taegan screamed as the pistol fired, ducking down. He eased slightly, confused when he heard muffled shouting and scraping metal.

Easing up, he saw chord of metal stringing Anita up to the ceiling, aiming her blaster up, the apparatus holding her just melting out of the air that moment.

Shimmer appeared, leaning against the councilor’s desk to his left, making him jump again, and Tripwire lowered himself from the ceiling, out of the field his partner had created.

“So, should I say ‘X told you so,’ or should we just bring her back to headquarters?” Shimmer asked casually, jerking a thumb back at Anita and the door as she writhed furiously but ineffectually in her fetters.

Teagan stammered, “T-the others…”

Tripwire straightened, and rasped, “Being handled.”

* * *

A furious Reploid snarled and jerked at the base of the controls to a weapons depot. The door he’d just cracked was sealing shut again as Deepfreeze operated it, ice coating the Reploid’s frame on the ground.

“There was no ice, how did you stick me to the floor!?” the Maverick snarled as he fought and twitched.

“Magnets,” Mapteron whispered from his ear, and the Maverick was startled enough to stare up at him for a moment.

Mapteron stood up, and looked at his partner. “Status, Deepfreeze?”

“Repairing and changing the security protocols. We’re good here.”

Mapteron lifted the ice-cocooned Maverick and started to march out with Deepfreeze.

* * *

A Reploid with long blonde hair and black body armor hurried under a crackling power-conduit, and started to enter rapid commands on a security console. She smirked when the door cracked open, and she shoved it the rest of the way, dashing up to the controls for the entire facility.

“Here goes the power to your entire city, human insects.”

She reached for the console, but something blurred past her, and her arms were knocked up violently. She stumbled back from the console, and twisted around, then slowly looked up into Overload’s crackling gauntlets and glimmering optics as he slowly smiled.

“Looking for the charge-station?”

She suddenly turned animalistic, snarling, and wrenching her arms up as they started to snap into busters.

Turbo flickered into view behind her, and jammed a stun-pod into her back. She screamed as her body overloaded for a moment, and then she simply crashed flat.

“You can thank Alia’s emergency stasis for surviving that, by the way,” Turbo muttered at the Maverick’s back.

Overload touched his comm. “Power station secured.”

* * *

Power-smashers resounded throughout the factory as a reploid in dull gray armor hurried up a ladder, and rushed to a command pod high up at the ceiling, starting to work at the console. Another Reploid hurried up in his wake, and held a buster ready, aiming out from him.

“Crack the damn security already,” the guarding Reploid hissed.

“The protocols take a cycle. Keep your slagged circuits calm.”

A gout of flame shot through the catwalk below the guarding Reploid, and he cried out as his buster, sealed by the fire-blast, went critical when he instinctively tried to fire. His arm blew apart as Inferno somehow flipped his massive bulk onto the catwalk with a shaking crash, and slapped fetters onto the injured Maverick immediately.

The one at the console twisted, drawing a pistol, but blinked as the weapon fell in half, flash-melted in a flawless cut.

Pyrostrike grabbed him from behind, burning arm-blade at the neck. “Stand down, or I’ll make you.”

The restrained Maverick went berserk, snarling and starting to flail, but Pyrostrike deftly pin-point struck him, and as he collapsed, put more fetters on him.

“Gaines-Krip Factory secured. They aren’t getting the military fabrications this time,” Pyrostrike reported calmly.

* * *

Three Reploids in simple construction-equipped gear quickly ran up onto the hover-pad on the roof of the Council building. The each had a large, boxy package, and were rushing to the corners. The one at the farthest corner felt a rush behind him, and twisted, then looked up into Airstrike’s dark expression.

“Maverick Hunter!” the one shouted.

The other two twisted, pulling pistols from their torso compartments.

Two plasma bolts sounded, but not from them. Their pistols blew part in their hands, and Blast Squirrel swept down, crashing to his haunches.

“You can stand down, if you want,” he started dryly.

The two charged him like wild animals.

Airstrike dodged the punch from the one he faced, and twisted that Reploid into a set of manacles on the wrists and ankles, dropping him flat.

Blast Squirrel twirl-flipped over the pair attacking him, and dropped down on one, clamping manacles over his limbs as well.

The third tried to run toward his package at that point, but Airstrike flew over and dropped in front of him. That one was down the next core-pulse.

Airstrike touched his comm. “We need bomb retrieval on the roof of the Council building, but the attackers are secured.”

* * *

A Reploid with short dark hair, black body-structure, and a pack over her shoulders hurried up a maintenance ladder, and rushed down a catwalk over a reservoir chamber. Just as she reached the main hatch into the reservoir, she pulled her pack free, and started to open it.

A matte metal clamp snapped her bag shut in front of her hands, and she stared up at Snapvice. His cold optics stared back at her without emotion.

“What’s in the bag?”

She suddenly jerked back, pulling twin pistols out as she fell. He twisted, and let the bolts bounce off his heavily armored back, dispersing.

The Reploid growled, and started to recover to fire again, but a massive hand shot down and grabbed both arms, lifting her clean off the ground by them.

“Are you going to answer the question?” Depthcharge asked, looking at her furious expression as she writhed and tried to kick at him.

Snapvice opened the satchel, and pulled a large container out, filled with almost glowing-green fluid. “Scans show toxic. Poison for the city’s water supply, it looks like.”

“You can’t stop it!” the Reploid spat at Depthcharge. “Maverick Hunters, humans, all of you are going to DIE!”

“I really wish you’d remain silent. I thought we had that going? She didn’t tell us what was in the satchel, right?” Depthcharge asked Snapvice dryly, looking at him around the flailing Maverick.

Snapvice just shrugged, and then touched his comm. “Water utilities secured.”

* * *

Warp Turtle glanced across from his console to another mature Reploid in a lab-coat, adjusting controls at his station.

Spikesaw entered the room from beyond the lab-coat Reploid, and greeted them both lightly. “Warp Turtle, Dr. Fenz, any network anomalies while I was getting a charge?”

“None yet, as usual, Spikesaw,” the large, turtle-like Reploid called over.

Dr. Fenz smiled back as well, and then focused on his console, and started to enter some more controls.

It was when his hand reached over to the far part of his console that it was seized by Spikesaw’s, and the two locked optics, suddenly dead serious.

“There a reason you’re releasing the security protocols, doc?”

Dr. Fenz snarled and pulled a plasma rifle out of his coat, swinging it around to fire at Spikesaw point-blank.

He froze in mid-motion, however, and Warp Turtle stepped out from behind him, adjusting controls on Dr. Fenz’ console.

“Security protocol protections restored.”

The two Maverick Hunters secured Dr. Fenz’ limbs before Warp Turtle released his odd freeze over the Maverick’s body.

“How did you catch it so fast!?”

“Do we really look like network specialists to you, doc? We’ve been waiting for you to freak out for four weeks.”

“Begging your pardon, but I have excellent network analysis scores,” Warp Turtle reported, puffing his frame up.

“Sorry, Warp Turtle. Do _I_ look like a network specialist, doc?”

Dr. Fenz degraded into snarling gibberish at that point as they dragged him out.

* * *

Five Reploids in sleek armor dropped down support ladders, and into the darkened warehouse. Military vehicles were arrayed across the massive chamber, and the five started to spread to them, data-cores ready in their hands to upload commands to the machines.

Just as the first one leapt up onto a vehicle and brought his data-core around to upload, he jerked, and fell flat, twitching from the shock-fetters suddenly on all four of his limbs.

The other Reploids froze for a moment, and then full-speed dashed to their targets, their spare arms turning into busters.

A plasma bubble churning through the air like a drill tore into one, batting her aside and across the floor.

Barrel stomped over, and clamped manacles on her limbs before she fired her buster, which was disabled by the manacle. He picked up the data-core, and whistled. “Nasty stuff. Wow, it’s actually programmed to aim for baby-carriages? That’s just… overly detailed for rampant slaughter. I mean, really? Even for the virus, that’s something special.”

Another Reploid was sneaking up behind him as he prattled away at the prone one at his feet.

Just when it was about to strike, he sighed, seemed to wait for something, and then nodded as the new Reploid fall flat, crackling fetters on his limbs.

“Thanks, Quickman.”

The crimson cutter Reploid appeared opposite Barrel, the visor dismal. “One? I drop the four others, and you get one?”

“What can I say, I don’t have your raw… charisma?”

“Aw, a real charmer. You’re lucky I’m a glutton for flattery. Let’s get this lot back to HQ. Well… when we can.”

Barrel smirked at him, and they started to pick up their captured Mavericks.

* * *

Zero ran up a flight of stairs, and opened a hatch, running out onto the roof of Maverick Hunter headquarters. It was a thick, cloudy night, and he saw Megaman X standing there.

“X, why are you all the way up here? Have you gotten Signas' reports about the attacks all over the city?” Zero challenged first, his eyes scanning his old comrades’ back quite seriously. He was suspicious.

X looked up past his own helmet. “Tell Signas to sound general quarters.”

Zero was about to push when he sensed the problem, his optics flaring, and he looked up. He turned grim.

An armada of battle-ships were descending over Maverick Hunter headquarters, joined by swarms of green, mantis-like mechaniloids that were already starting to rain down laser fire.

Zero touched his comm, but then watched X speed-dash and leap clear off the edge of the tower, shimmering with power as he aimed to land on the closest mechaniloid.

 _So he knew the entire time. He’s been waiting for this attack._ “Vice Commander Signas? We’re under attack. I’m joining X outside.”

“We have another problem, Zero!” Signas voice chimed back urgently. “Our internal security measures have collapsed. Sabotage! The signal isolated it to level four!”

“X, did you get that?”

“We’ll clear our way to it,” X returned.

Zero growled, and boosted, drawing his sword. As he flew off the roof, his ponytail rattling, he muttered, “Somebody’s gotten a little full of himself!”

* * *

The mantis mechaniloid rushed down toward Maverick Hunter Headquarters, several of its fellows blowing apart from the defense turrets of the building’s upper levels, firing lasers from its turret-mandibles as the air sheared around it. Its sensors only barely registered a collision warning before X slammed into its snout, and unloaded plasma-bolts with both busters into the control module.

The mechaniloid was already starting to crash down when Zero came flying off another mechaniloid from the left, his beam-saber flaring as he raised it for a downward slice. The mechaniloid he came from was exploding as he flew, and he drove his sword down into X’s target along the flank.

It exploded, and the two hunters flipped off, crashing to their haunches on different sides of the smoldering wreckage of the flyer. X started to shimmer with building energy over his frame, distorting the air and taking on tinges of purple, pink, and blue color. Zero glanced his way, then looked up, shimmering with green light himself.

As a wing of mechaniloids came around, the defense turrets of the base suddenly died, turning themselves off.

Signas’ voice sounded over general comms, “Defense systems have just failed completely. All Maverick Hunters, prioritize defense. We need those mechaniloids and ships out of the sky before the civilian population is attacked!”

The two hunters on the ground snapped their busters upward, and unleashed storming rushes of plasma. Zero’s shots erased a few lines of mechaniloids, but his optics tightened at the torrents of destruction that poured out of X’s blasters. They didn’t just blow the mechaniloids apart, they flash-vaporized the directly hit targets, and tore pieces out of the rest.

 _He doesn’t hold back anymore,_ Zero noted, anything but pleased by the notion.

With that immediate threat managed, X turned toward the walled edifice behind him, touching his comm. “Command, did the rest of our security just go down?”

“Confirmed. Level five access this time. They know our protocols well. Alia and Dex have it contained finally, but the damage is done,” Signas returned.

Zero burst forward, and started to rip up the wall. “I’ll infiltrate from level eight and work down!”

X nodded, and started to dash up the wall with him. “I’ll come in from below.” On the private X-Hunter network, he chimed, //Signas, Alia, what do we know about the security failure?//

//I’m sorry, X, I blew it,// Alia replied instantly, her digital voice rushed and sharp from her focus on her tasks re-securing the network. //I let my guard down because I thought we had this all knit up. It never should have gotten this far.//

As X rushed across the courtyard toward the main entrance, Signas cut in, //Alia’s taking too much fault, per usual, but it seems there was a Doppler-cured Maverick here in headquarters of enough rank to have the security protocols.//

//Who was on level four when the attack started?//

//Transmitting list now,// Alia pinged, and X felt the data rush to his system.

“Sorry,” X felt compelled to say as he plasma-vaporized the armored bulkhead sealing the lobby of headquarters, and shot through the still-steaming hole. _No one on this list was on the Doppler list… You’re not the only one who slipped up, Alia, this was foolish of me. I got too confidant._

* * *

A few more bulkhead casualties were required, X making note of their positions for later repair, but he quickly reached the level four access node that had started the defense failure. As muffled explosions reached his audio-receptors from the battle outside, he quickly checked over the console’s access history.

“Mac…?” he muttered, confused.

An energy pulse sounded behind him, and X’s senses had him flicker down to his left, watching a stun-bolt wash over the console he’d just used. Twisting and glancing, he saw a purple-armored Reploid with a visor over a humanoid face aiming again.

“You didn’t get the cure, Mac,” X called out calmly despite having to twist his body out of the path of another stun-bolt. His torso armor actually pulled on the trails of energy, soaking up the ambient power.

“You mean I wasn’t on the list,” Mac retorted with a dark smile, and suddenly rapid-fired his stun-buster in a spiral volley toward X.

Truthfully, after all he’d faced, dodging each bolt was child’s play. X was already starting to flicker and writhe through the attacks, his optics tightening toward Mac even in the midst of the deadly dance. _The list had to be modified, the Reploids weren’t infected before they got to Doppler. Where could it have been modified that even Alia wouldn’t catch?_ _…I need more information._

X feigned slipping, gave a shout, and took a stun-bolt to the chest. He cried out as he was overcome with crackling power, and crashed to all-fours as his respirator cycled heavily.

Mac ran up to him with a smirk. “All hail Doppler. We have such wonderful things to show you, X! You’ll become a part of something so much greater!”

X looked up at him. “When did you get the cure, Mac?”

Mac smirked, and touched a control on his forearm. X looked up, his optics flaring as a mag-lift mechaniloid hovered down, and yanked him to its surface. It lifted him up off the ground, and kept him from being able to move much more than his eyes.

_Damn, this was stupid. I figured he’d want to gloat. Only way I can break this is my G-Crusher, and I’m not trying to kill him or erase half the base…_

Tearing metal made X and Mac both stare out to the side of the room just as the ceiling blew open, Zero crashing down to one knee, his saber burning out to the side. His gaze locked on Mac with dark focus. “Let him down, Mac. This is over. Alia and Dex already have the security protocols repairing, and the fleet is taking down those carriers.”

“You think that’s all the Dopplerforce brought?” Mac taunted, and then his buster snapped toward Zero.

X saw the stance Zero was dashing into. _He’s going to terminate!_ “NO, ZERO, we need--!?”

Zero flickered past Mac, and Mac went limp, crashing to his knees… then fell in half.

That moment froze for X, his fists managing to clench as his body shivered in its containment field. He saw blood all over his armor again, heard her dying voice, saw Reploids dying, saw Vile’s headless body falling limply to the floor… heard Alia’s scream as her arm was torn off… His optics shimmered red in their depths, parts of his torso shifting, shivering open.

The field dispersed, and he was falling freely. His mind returned, and he landed neatly, but stayed crouched, just breathing. Mac’s remains were just a meter or so away from him.

Zero walked up behind him. “X, on your feet. There are probably more Mavericks we have to deal with. One slip-up doesn’t mean you have to give up.”

X frowned darkly, glaring at the floor. “He didn’t have to die.”

Zero’s brow creased at the smaller Reploid’s back. “X, he was Maverick. They don’t listen to reason.”

X stood up, but didn’t turn around. He touched his comm. “Signas, Maverick infiltrator terminated by Hunter Zero. Status?”

“Against my instincts, this looks like it’s wrapping up, X. …No, wait. There’s what I was waiting for. We have incoming. Massive mechaniloid attacker, it’s dropping from a high-altitude carrier our scanners missed for all the hubbub with the attack.”

“En route,” X replied, starting to lean into a dash.

Zero grabbed his shoulder, and twisted X to face him. “What is wrong with you?”

X raised an eyebrow, but his expression was otherwise cold. “We have work to do, don’t we?”

Zero narrowed his eyes as they held their locked stare. “…You’re furious.” He almost sounded impressed.

“That’s not fury. Now let’s go, before we get a new sunroof nobody asked for.”

X twisted, and dashed along at full speed, flickering across the room. Zero frowned, but sheathed his saber at his shoulder, and dashed after his comrade.

* * *

The massive mechaniloid burned down on massive thrusters instead of legs, its gray and green structure resembled a hulking ogre with spiked maces on chain-arms instead of actual limbs, and a massive, grotesque face.

It swung its body, and brought one mace around wide, ready to smash it down into the roof of Maverick Hunter Headquarters. That never hit, because a plasma-bolt burst from one of the communication spires, and hit with such precision and force that the entire limb bounced backward, forcing the behemoth to float back awkwardly and search for the new threat.

Cadis, plasma-rifle slung in one arm, repelled off that spire with a chord-tether, and swung wide as her dark hair lashed in a ponytail, her targeting monocle scanning for weak armor points. “Well, I got his attention, Commander!”

Signas chuckled over the comm. “Good work. Back-up is on the way, just stay out of those maces’ reach, alright, Cadis?”

“Roger that!” she called, and let go of her wire as the behemoth smashed down the entire comm tower she’d used.

Cadis back-flipped, and as she did readied her rifle, aiming in mid-flip, and fired. The force of the blast snap-twisted her around the other direction, her bolt bouncing the behemoth’s arm to the side again, and let her clamp onto the side of a different comm-tower.

Just as the behemoth was twisting for her again, a series of blue-white bolts slammed into its head, and Cadis gawked down at the roof-level.

Alia was sprinting out from the roof-access, her buster lighting up the behemoth with pin-point strikes at his optics and neck. She gave a sharp whistle, “Down here, big guy!”

The mechaniloid roared and revved its thrusters, coming down at her with both maces. Alia was starting to leap back herself, but Cadis took aim, and fired a trio of blasts into the base of its neck from the side.

It roared again as it was sent crashing to the side, its maces hitting only air over Alia’s head.

 _She’s one heck of a shot,_ Alia realized. She’d known before, and was familiar with Cadis’ record, but seeing it in action was something different.

Then a crimson streak shot down behind the behemoth, and Zero appeared on the roof, saber out, one knee down.

Cadis and Alia watched the behemoth rear back as a gash burst open down its entire back.

“Sorry, I’m late, ladies,” Zero said, though he was completely calm as he stood up and turned to look up at the mechaniloid sidelong.

“Works for me!” Alia called lightly. Privately concerned, she chimed, //X, you okay?//

//No.//

Two towers of plasma energy made all three other Reploids jerk back in momentary panic, Zero’s eyes flaring at the released energy that seemed to all but erase the core of the behemoth vertically.

X shimmered into view, his chameleon cloak fading as he walked toward Alia and the roof-access door, the wreckage of the behemoth crashing down behind him.

“Lieutenant, anything else trying to blow us up?” he called aloud, his voice serious, but she heard the dark edge beneath it.

Not voicing her concern yet, Alia touched her comm, and looked up. “Scanners look clear. I think we’ve cleaned up this mess, you guys.”

Cadis repelled down, slinging her rifle down her back, where it collapsed into storage mode. “Wow, X… that was… some weapon.”

X looked over at her, and managed a small smile for her sake. “Sorry if I startled you three.”

Zero just eyed him again, and then moved to join the group.

“And great work holding the line, Cadis,” Alia added as they started inside.

Cadis flushed. “Sorry about the comm tower.”

“Hey, it worked, and they’re easy enough to repair.”

“You didn’t flash-melt the armored bulkheads on the ground floors,” X muttered ruefully.

This got him another set of looks, and he shrugged.

“I was in a hurry at the time.”

Alia and Cadis started to giggle a little, and Zero just rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Let’s get to Signas, hm?” Zero prompted.

Once they were in the lift taking them down to the command level, Alia was able to give X a private glance, her eyes lit with concern. X met her eyes, but his own fell away after, and he just looked exhausted.

* * *

In the command center, Signas turned from the map-console in the center, and returned the salutes of the team from the roof. His armored cap and more robust armor reflected his rank at a glance. Scattered around the chamber were the X-Hunters from the other missions, and Zero had to set his hands on his hips. “And where were you lot during this crisis, hm?”

It was clear Quickman was about to hop forward and declare some grandiose statement, but Signas stayed him with a gesture, and then smiled at Zero, and said, “Saving the city.”

Zero raised an eyebrow. “Can I see the report…?”

Signas lightly tossed him a datapad, which Zero caught instantly, and glanced over it. He seemed gravely shocked rather than pleased. “Your dispatch orders from weeks ago…?” he asked, looking up at Signas.

Signas gestured to X. “He was willing to be my scapegoat for any public outcry. When the Council wasn’t willing to take steps, we had to.”

X gave a playful salute. “A pleasure, sir.”

Cadis giggled, and Alia and the other X-Hunters beyond Signas shared knowing smiles or laughs.

Shimmer leaned back fully on his nearest console. “Councilor Teagan should be a lot more friendly, by the way. We had to practically pull his assistant’s fingers off his throat.”

Tripwire just snort-cackled at the reminder.

Zero returned the datapad to Signas more calmly. “I’ll report to Dr. Cain, if that’s alright by you, Signas?”

“He’s your direct report, sir. I appreciate you running the errand for me, though,” Signas returned with a light chuckle.

Zero gave him a dry look, and then turned. He and X shared a surprisingly dark glance as he walked past, but nothing was said, and he vanished through the door a moment later.

X looked to Alia and Signas, serious still. “It was Mac who brought our systems down.”

Dex looked over his shoulder from a console closer to the far end of the room. “I was about to log that in the reports, sir. It was too late to mean much, but I ID’d his signature on those hacks.”

“And Zero terminated him?” Signas confirmed gravely, really informing the X-Hunters of the event. It caused a grim glance to be shared across the room. Even Cadis looked down sadly.

X nodded. “Indeed. My main concern at this point is why he wasn’t on our list of known cure-recipients.”

Alia replied, “Exactly. I’ll get to work on that with Dex. There might be other moles we need to tag.”

Cadis raised a hand meekly.

“Yes, Cadis?” Signas called attention to her.

“S-sorry, commander, I know I’m not an information specialist, but I was just thinking… didn’t Doppler’s lab create the list originally anyway? He’d only have to provide a trail for the Reploids in official posts, no one would care to ask about any others.”

Alia turned to her. “An excellent point, Cadis. The main issue is that Maverick Hunters should be on the criteria.”

She shrugged. “What if… they went privately? Hoping?”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room, only the beeps of scanners still resounding.

X finally spoke up, “That may be the case, Cadis. If so, then all we can do is watch and respond. For the moment, though,” he looked back to Signas, “I think Doppler Town is going to be our main focus?”

Signas nodded. “Indeed. Alia, I think you already had most of the information compiled due to our precautions?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get a full debrief put together within the hour.”

“Thank you, do so. Well done, Maverick Hunters. Let’s get some repairs complete while Alia prepares the data.”

The group started to disperse, Alia patting Cadis’ shoulder as a final affirmation and show of sympathy.

Cadis smiled at her, and then found X’s eyes with her own. She mouthed, “You okay?”

He shook his head, but also waved his hand. “I’ll start on those bulkheads I melted,” he called over to no one in particular.

Cadis moved up to him. “I’ll help!”

He chuckled, and nodded. “Thanks.”

Alia just smiled over her shoulder before they left the room. _Thanks, Cadis._

* * *

Dr. Cain eased back in his chair with a deep sigh. Zero was standing in front of his desk, mildly expectant.

“Sometimes, I wish his ideas would backfire on him, not prove him right,” Dr. Cain muttered.

Zero rolled his eyes a little. “Doc, this is a bit more serious than all that. He had Maverick Hunters infiltrating government facilities, with specific intent to capture and detain government employees, without any evidence of wrong-doing.”

Dr. Cain fixed Zero with a hard stare. “And took no action until they attacked or attempted terrorism. Not to mention everyone he placed did their job professional and functionally in those weeks. I don’t like it either, Zero, and I find Signas’ involvement troubling, too. The problem is that everything they are doing is kept clean and orderly. There is nothing to action here.”

Zero snapped a hand back at the door. “He’s not the same Reploid you found, Doc! Have you seen that look in his eyes?”

“Yes,” Dr. Cain answered, no humor in his expression.

Zero eased fractionally. “So you’re worried about him, too?”

“How could I not be? Zero… you’ve been gone… No, you actually weren’t gone very long, but a lot has happened. You’ve read the reports from the X-Hunter scenarios, right?”

“Of course.”

“On record, we excuse his success with infiltration and stealth skill, but the truth is much more terrifying. They can’t stop him, Zero. Armies, and some of the most powerful Reploids ever created, can’t stop him. There has not been a single Reploid who could defeat him in combat since he defeated Sigma.”

“I just watched Mac lock him down like a child!” Zero snapped in frustration.

Dr. Cain frowned. “Which is what troubles me. I think he let himself take that hit, Zero. I think he was trying to gather information. He wasn’t upset at being captured.”

Zero’s eyes tightened. “…I know.”

Dr. Cain nodded. “Keep an eye on him. And have you settled on who you want in your squad, yet?”

Zero crossed his arms. “It’s a bit hard to when all the best candidates seem to be wrapped around X’s pinky.”

Dr. Cain cringed, rubbing his beard. “…Yes, I imagine it is.” He seemed to think of something abruptly, and stood up, retrieving his cane from his desk, and walked over to a console at the side of his office.

“Doc?” Zero prompted, only mildly confused.

“We’ve been focused on the Doppler research for the last few weeks, but I keep an eye on Reploid factories and R&D labs myself. The Gate facility has recently started a test case, and it shows potential of a unique type. I believe Alia used to work there, so you can gather some information from her, if you wish, but I think you’ll want to meet a couple of Reploids they recently brought online.”

Zero walked over, and leaned on the wall by his elbow, looking down at the screen Dr. Cain was using. “…Sibling Reploids. That’s been done before, hasn’t it?”

“In essence, yes, but these two are unique. They were created from a desire to mix compassion with combat prowess. The two systems were so opposed they couldn’t put them in the same Reploid in the end, but they had a rather ingenious idea. Turn them into two Reploids with a mutual defense sub-routine.”

Zero frowned thoughtfully. “Interesting, certainly. Names?”

“Iris is the sister. The brother, rather militaristic by design, just goes by ‘Colonel.’”

“Colonel sounds promising, but the sister seems… civilian.”

Dr. Cain chuckled, and opened another document.

Zero actually whistled, “Those are her aptitude scores for data management?”

“An ideal operator. She’s intended as a support for her brother, obviously, but as long as she’s on your team…” Dr. Cain shrugged.

“Thanks, Doc. Yeah, I’ll check it out. I’ll touch base with Alia to be safe.”

“Very good. I’ll be back later this evening if you need anything else, Zero.”

Zero was intrigued. “Running errands, doc?”

“Emergency Council meeting. This Doppler disaster has them shaking in their boots. Apparently they have some mad idea for a Reploid army.”

Zero tilted his head down, dismal. “That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard, especially if they want to AVOID Maverick outbreaks.”

“Exactly,” Dr. Cain returned, marching along with his cane toward the door. “Let me know how the brother and sister turn out, would you?”

“Will do, Doc.”

Zero looked back at the console while Dr. Cain left the office, viewing the model display for Colonel and Iris.


	2. Prey

The holographic map of Doppler Town rotated, then zoomed, then shifted, and rotated again under X's keen view. His eyes were tightened with a complex mixture of emotions, but most especially confusion.

He could feel capsules. A full set of them were waiting for him; all inside Doppler Town. He reached out with one armored hand, his fingers curling through the hologram.

_How could he have predicted this? All in this one location? No, it doesn't make sense. It was strange enough during the viral X-Hunters' attacks, but this? Too small an area. Has the Virus learned how to dupe that signal to me?_

The command center's door sliding open cut through his reverie enough for the din of the work around him to return to his audio receptors. He straightened casually, glanced back, and nodded to Alia and Dex.

"Signas, Zero?" X called simply.

They turned from a console just beyond the map-table, noted Alia and Dex, and then moved to join them around the holographic display as well. Zero leaned on it with his hands, frame a bit heavy.

"Have the breakdown for us, Alia?" he prompted.

Alia tipped her head, holding a dataslate in the crook of one arm, but then she gestured for Dex to proceed. The face-plated Reploid input a datachip, and the map shifted with gradient highlighting in various areas, breaking it into clearer sections.

"Based on the analysis of targets, resources, known Reploids on the treatment lists, and what schematics we could get from Doppler Town's design, we basically have a microcosm environment turned into a massive fortress. Each section," Dex gestured, the areas flashing for the jungle, a frozen region around a facility, complex waterways, a massive power plant, a deep-set mine, a submerged marine facility, an industrial complex, and an airstrip, "represents a substantial and well-defended resource that also keeps the overall 'Doppler Town' facility self-sustaining."

He eased back, and Alia stepped a little closer, tapping at her slate. The hologram shrank the map and facility data to one corner, and profile information started flashing up into view. "Our most reliable intel confirms that Dr. Doppler himself should still be on-site, but not exactly which facility is best suited to his command needs. He may have a secured bunker within Doppler Town. As for each section, however, there are specific Reploids that would've made ideal supervisors in each field from the lists of affected recipients."

She continued as a purple, orange, and yellow cat-like Reploid face appeared, "Neon Tiger; expert in jungle reconnaissance and guerilla warfare."

Then a blue-black plated, massive horn with tiny optics behind it flickered into view. "Gravity Beetle; aeronautics and open-facility defense expert. He's well-documented as having unique, gravity-based weaponry built into his body, which makes him tactically nightmarish with standard weapons."

The encrypted X-Hunter line pinged from Quickman, //He won’t be idle for long. If he’s active, we’ll have a problem.//

X kept his focus on the display and Alia’s report, but the whole team was attentive to the private line now. //You’re familiar with him?//

//…More than familiar. We’ll discuss it another time, X.//

Alia’s brow knitted faintly, but she kept going. A gold and gray, face-masked head with larger optics appeared next. "Blast Hornet. A unique expert; he's known for turning salvage into functional defense automatons on the fly, mid-combat. He'll be on the industrial center, or I haven't lost an arm."

Signas, Zero, and X—despite residual concern from Quickman’s comments—each gave her a little glance for that comment, the first two dry, X empathetic, but they didn't try to interrupt. Dex was calmly attentive in case Alia had need of any assistance with the display.

She continued as a large, purple, white, and blue facade with horns behind the wide optics appeared. "Blizzard Buffalo; a sculptor in the civilian sector, but also uniquely talented for heavy combat in harsh winter conditions. Especially in this cooling-tech facility, he will have an absolute tactical advantage. I'm still composing suggestions for him especially." On the private, X-Hunter comm line, she added, //I believe he trained under Chill Penguin.//

//Confirmed,// Deepfreeze answered instantly. //He was solid as a Hunter, learned well. Very stoic. ...Made beautiful art in his private time... Even with the Virus spiking his aggression, he'll be likely to think further ahead than most.//

X privately returned, //Thank you. Noted.//

The quiet grief in Deepfreeze's comm-voice was left without further comment, but no one missed it.

Without skipping a beat audibly, Alia went on as a dark green, stretched out face with yellow optics appeared. "Acid Seahorse; actually an urban warfare expert, with unique talent for navigation and mapping. I suspect he's in the water and processing systems due to the piping and greater network access."

Alia did pause briefly as a drill-horned, yellow and green faceplate appeared. "...Tunnel Rhino is far and away the most likely commander over the mine facility in Doppler Town. No one else even comes close to his aptitude for combat in unstable geological conditions and mining operations." //He was... also known to be a good friend of Armor Armadillo.//

A much more reserved comment came from Barrell, //...Confirmed.//

X tightened his gaze faintly at the profile. //Do we need to talk about him, Barrel?//

//No. I'm just... sorry for him.//

//Same here...//

//Thanks, X, Alia...//

A wide, blue and gray face appeared with wiry whispers lancing off to the sides. "Volt Catfish; not only talented for electrical discharge weaponry, but nearly unparalleled understanding of power systems and grids. No one else would be a better call for their power-plant facility." //And he studied under Spark Mandrill.//

Overload confirmed, //Yeah. Damn sharp bot, he was, too. Watch your back when you go for him, X. Just like Buffalo, even hyped up on the virus, he won't be stupid.//

//Copy. Thanks for the heads up. All of you.//

Some general affirmations returned.

Alia went on, a small, crimson, narrow facade appearing with beady optics. "Crush Crawfish; a very uniquely talented combatant with a strong record in naval encounters. He makes sense for the marine facility in place. Primary concern facing him is his crushing weapons he took the name for. They could split a modern-construction Reploid in half with little trouble." She glanced to X particularly with that warning.

Zero frowned thoughtfully, a hand reaching up to scratch at his chin. "Alia, what's your recommendation for our first shoe in the door? I feel like Neon Tiger's jungle area is the most open to infiltration."

X, Signas, Dex, and Alia focused on Zero, and Alia tipped her head.

"Exactly that, sir. The only direct defense systems between exterior and the jungle area is Doppler Town's border wall and shielding system. It's formidable, but not impossible to teleport around with the right protocols. We just don't want to use those protocols too much, too soon."

Zero tipped his head, and looked to Signas. "I think we should hit it hard and fast, in force. Make a foot hold in Doppler Town, and fork out to the other areas simultaneously."

X's eye twitched. //Signas, I need... some time to have a chance, before Zero starts a war I can't get any information through.//

Signas seemed to simply mull over Zero's words as he watched the map. "I won't deny the logic of your point, Zero, but I have a concern." He reached down, touching the map, making it shift and zoom to the jungle area. "Alia? We have limited intel on the jungle's interior, correct? We just know there aren't any heavy defense emplacements?"

Alia tipped her head. "Correct, sir. Neon Tiger's expertise in quick-strike combat also makes a full advance into the area problematic. We might lose a lot of people charging through it in a blitz."

Zero frowned, but nodded, and looked to Signas again. "So what are you thinking? We can't let it sit."

Signas nodded. "We can't, no. However, I'd like some scouting done first." He leaned back, looking to Zero, but gesturing across to X. "I'd like to send X in for infiltration, get us a better idea of the tactical nightmare we're diving into. We can prep your full-scale force while he does so. In fact," he turned to Alia, "can you go ahead and start compiling a good distribution of forces for such an assault for us, Alia?"

She snapped to a salute. "Of course, Vice-Commander."

Zero glanced to X, who was straightened and attentive after being named, then back to Signas. "Why not Shimmer or even Turbo?"

Signas raised an eyebrow, his optics never leaving Zero's. Alia and X shared a faint glance, Dex just watching with mild surprise at the turn of the conversation.

Signas replied, "To be blunt, Zero, they lack X's record of success in this scenario. We've no time to mince words. X is one of our best field Hunters, and I have no reason not to deploy him for reconnaissance before we launch the full-scale assault you requested yourself. Is this going to be an issue?" he requested in a completely even, calm manner, all business.

Zero's hands tapped at his thighs. He glanced to Alia briefly, who blinked and shrugged, then to Dex, who just raised his hands, backing out. When he met X's eyes, X had a very chilled but civil look of expectancy. He was simply awaiting orders.

At length, Zero tipped his head. "Yeah, sure; good idea. Oh, uh... Alia?"

She blinked again. "Y-yes, Zero?"

"Need to speak with you briefly before you compile the strike force for us, please."

She saluted.

Signas glanced between them, and then smiled cordially. "Very good, everyone. X? Please deploy immediately."

X saluted, and wordlessly twisted to sprint out of the command center.

Dex moved over to a console, Signas easing away from the map-table as well, while Alia moved around to Zero with light curiosity obvious on her features. Signas watched sidelong over his shoulder.

"Alia, you used to work at the Gate facility, right?" Zero started.

She was stunned silent briefly, and then answered, "Light's labcoat, Zero, that's out of left field. Y-yes, I did. Before I joined the Hunters." She smiled fondly. "Gate taught me most everything I know."

Zero grinned casually. "Solid people there, then? I'll be dropping by briefly while the plans and scouting are handled."

Alia tilted her head, still fairly astonished. "You are? I mean, yes, they're some of our best minds there, especially Gate himself. I'm just curious as to why you're visiting right now of all times?"

The red Reploid chuckled, and started for the door with a casual wave over his shoulder. "Just checking on something for Dr. Cain. Thanks, Alia!"

She waved softly, apparently still mostly stunned and confused as he departed. //...X, did you copy all that?//

//Yes. Thank you. I'll look into Gate's facility later myself.//

//I'll check on their current research for you.//

//Heh, thanks.//

//And X?//

//Yeah?//

//Please, be careful out there. Neon Tiger's weapons are some of the most advanced we had.//

//I will... thank you.//

//Welcome. Alia out.//

She sighed a bit, and moved to a console to get started. She had to put an army together, apparently...

* * *

Surprisingly silent for a full-on sprint, X charged past several cyberized trees and lightly hopped a few bushes. After porting down outside Doppler Town’s perimeter, he’d wasted no time. Especially with Zero rearing to tackle the whole metroplex, X felt the pressure keenly.

X’s optics dilated as he revved his sensors to max with Dr. Light’s improvements. As always, it was nearly maddening in the level of detail, the layers of information beyond normal processing that it poured into his system. Sadly, he was all too familiar with that migraine-like state.

Sensor pods in the bases of several trees served as invisible trip-wires. He side-flipped over a few, never slowing down, and still somehow so silent.

Part of a squadron of dragonfly-like mechaniloids came hovering down near his area, presumably on a standard security sweep due to their lack of acceleration.

X leapt up, his colors shifting purple and blue, and his buster configured into a powerful claw-gripper. He fired it vertically, nothing more than a soft hiss and rush of air. It gripped a high branch, and he retracted sharply, flying up to the branch himself. As he gripped to it, the dragonflies just hovered down _below_ him, checking the ground… and then rising back up to their full formation.

Now with height, X took a moment to scan the area, while hanging upside down with all four limbs wrapped around a tree limb. Thanks almost entirely to Dr. Light’s enhanced sensors, he soon spotted something troubling, his eyes tightening as he focused more of the processor-drowning scans to one location.

 _A fortress?_ He pondered. There were strange patterns in some of the trees and terraformed cliffs. X craned his neck out of motor-habit for focusing, and his optics articulated more layers of data refinement to the various spectrums they were soaking up. His expression lit with realization. _There! That’s not rock, it’s some kind of composite stone… and looks denser than most_ metal _I’d be finding out here. How did…?_

He shook his head, and modified his busters on both arms, dropping from the branch with a soft pulse of wind from the arms to silence his landing. As his colors and weapons reverted to standard white, gold, red, and blue, he touched his audio-receptor, while starting off again.

//Dex, copy?//

//Reading you, X. Status?//

//There’s some kind of fortress built into the forest area. It’s made of a unique composite material, highly durable. I have to scout that out. Warn Zero. We can’t deploy in force here until I know what’s going on with that!//

//Copy! Relaying!//

X nodded to himself as he kept ripping forward, hopping around trees and brush, ducking lower branches, making sure he didn’t scrape metal trunks or more sensor lines.

Signas’ voice came over the Maverick Hunter comm next, //X, you’re certain? Our sensors couldn’t even catch a ghost of a structure in that jungle area.//

//I’m looking right at it.//

//Scrap and… Copy.// Signas then switched channels, to the X-Hunter line. //X, that fortress could be nightmarish to handle without better data. You’ll fall back if it’s too much?//

//…If I must.//

//I’m serious, X. I know you can handle more than any other single Reploid, but that’s suicidal. I’ll stall Zero if that’s the concern.//

//There’s too much thin ice around Zero right now. I need you to trust me on this one.//

//X…//

Alia’s voice joined that line, //Signas, he has no intention of dying out there.//

X couldn’t stop a little, almost sad smile from forming as he rolled under a big root and hid for a moment from a few dragonflies.

Signas let a sigh come through, //…I’ll drop it. You’re lucky I remember how soundly you kicked my plates, kid.//

Even some of the other X-Hunters had to chuckle over the line with the trio talking at that morbid humor.

With the comms dying down, X glanced toward the fortress, which was now more readily visible to normal visual spectrum. It was a unique mixture of open spaces with parapets, battlements, and tree-top platforms. …And he felt a capsule within it. His optics sharpened. _I’ll be careful, Signas._

* * *

“Ah, Maverick Hunter Zero, it’s an honor,” Gate greeted while adjusting his lab-coat over his mostly purple body-frame.

Zero strode up smoothly, smiling, and offered his hand. “Dr. Gate, I’m guessing?”

The blue-eyed Reploid scientist shook the offered hand with a quick nod, dipping his finned helmet. “Correctly so, sir. To what do we owe the honor of your visit, though?” he asked as his arm retreated, then let the hands sink into his pockets.

Zero tossed a hand lightly, eyes closing. “Wanted to check on something, actually.” He smiled a little, clarifying as he looked at Gate, “I hear you have a pair of newly developed Reploids that are very promising.”

Realization dawned on Gate’s expression, his head tipping back. “Ah, Colonel and Iris? I suspected that might be the main draw for the Hunters at our humble lab. Of course, of course. Come on, sir.”

Zero tipped his head, and followed as Gate led him through the mostly clean-white, glistening metal interior of the building. They moved past various self-contained labs with view-windows showing off construction, environmental testing, and programming safe-rooms, presumably for network-affecting tests.

“So your lab works in Reploid R&D for the most part, right?”

Gate nodded. “Indeed! We’re on the cutting edge of Reploid improvement and enhancement. Colonel and Iris are quite an exciting step forward on the military-application side of our endeavors.”

“I imagine the update about the virus caused a bit of a scare?”

Gate shrugged. “We maintain the strictest network security status for our members. Iris and Colonel, you’ll find, have the most advanced internal security systems ever devised to avoid third-party system infections. And, obviously, there’s no reason for an R&D complex with government contracts to be wirelessly networked. We only connect to external networks _at all_ for emergencies. Otherwise we simply have an isolated-circuit contact system for normal communication needs. It can’t access _any_ even slightly secured files.”

Zero narrowed his eyes at Gate’s back as they walked, incredulous, but he opted not to raise his objections. He gave a simple grunt of affirmation, showing he heard Gate, and continued to follow quietly.

Gate led into a more heavily isolated part of the lab building, where it was clearly modeled after some kind of operations command center. Zero took the room in quickly, but was soon focused on the lone figure already in the room.

Working at an operator station in a recessed part of the front wall, a female-model Reploid was quickly adjusting the controls and commenting into a headset. Her voice was soft, young-sounding… sweet perhaps, and it had a curious accent Zero hadn’t caught in a while. Her body frame appeared to be deliberately modeled after clothing, featuring red and blue plating arranged into a large skirt over the leg systems, and cap over her surprisingly long, flowing brown hair.

Gate walked right up to the railing dividing the main command deck from the operator kiosks, and Zero followed without hesitation, resting a hand on the same railing himself as he scanned his optics over the woman, her console, and the large view-screen above her.

It was a simulator chamber, like the Maverick Hunters used in their HQ. Currently, it appeared to be rigged to a half-ruined cityscape, rubble plentiful, with a lone Reploid quickly rushing from point to point, _slashing_ enemy targets down with a pale beam saber.

“You’ve got three more coming around behind you, Colonel,” the woman warned. Her tone was well managed to be serious, but soothing. She was offering information without spiking anxiety in the field operative.

The Reploid in the field, his frame mostly white and black with touches of red, like the operator, snap-twisted, wrenching his pale blade in an arc that absorbed the energy bolts from the hoverdrones rushing around the building behind him. He burst toward them at full-speed, and leapt high, shouting as he sliced all three in half wide in a single, powerful swing.

The female Reploid smiled a little for herself, and adjusted more controls. “That area’s clear. Next concentration is thirty-six meters North-North-East.”

The one in the field touched his audio-receptor, then nodded, and shot off on that heading.

Zero raised an eyebrow. Quietly, he muttered to Gate, “She’s the main reason he’s so effective.”

Gate controlled a smile. He was careful to stay quiet himself. “A side effect of the sibling construction we… stumbled upon in the process. They’re very used to each other. The negative for Iris here is that she’s all but civilian herself. Very little aptitude for combat, despite her body-frame being built to handle it.”

Zero frowned, but thoughtfully so, and kept watching for a moment. Iris was soon relaying more tactical information to Colonel as he closed on the next hub of drone activity. The Colonel _was_ showing creativity in how he used Iris’ intel. With her heads up on the split formation rushing him around a wall, he kicked up a boulder to the larger group, distracting their fire long enough for him to rush out, slash down the smaller group, and then blitz back to tear into the larger group with a quick flurry and series of wall-rebounding leaps.

Zero chose to speak up more clearly. “He’s not bad with a beam saber.”

Iris faintly glanced over her shoulder. A little smile flashed, but she never fully focused on Zero. “His combat stats are in the top ten percent, sir.”

Zero suddenly vaulted the rail, making Gate blink, and landed with a soft hydraulic ripple-hiss, standing right at Iris’ side. She jerked slightly, glancing sidelong at him, but staying focused on her task for her brother.

“Any objection to shaking things up a bit?” Zero asked casually, leaning in, his elbow against the top of the kiosk.

Iris felt her head ducking a bit with his frame hanging over her. “I-I’m not… authorized to make those changes, sir.”

Gate smirked faintly. “I’ll allow it, Iris. Let’s see what Maverick Hunter Zero has in mind.”

Iris only then gawked, looking straight up into Zero’s eyes. “M-Maverick Hunt…”

He met her gaze smoothly, a calm, confident humor curving his lips a little.

Iris wasn’t sure why she felt a surge of self-conscious anxiety just from that little glance. “W-what did you have in mind, sir?”

Zero flicked a finger to the screen-view she had of her brother. “I’d like to test him for myself. Think he’d be up for a duel?”

Iris defensively curled her hands near her core, blinking a few times. “I-I… ah…” A meek glance to Gate followed, and he just gestured toward her own console. She swallowed in social-habit, and tipped her head to Zero, then quickly touched her console to speak up, “Colonel? We have… Maverick Hunter Zero is watching your session, brother. He’d like to test your combat talents directly. A duel?”

Colonel stopped dead in the middle of the simulation, an eyebrow lifting as he snapped his saber to one side. “Zero himself?” He smirked with the pleasure of a warrior getting something they felt deserved. “It would be my pleasure.” He did have a similar accent to his sister.

Iris looked up to Zero, “H-he agrees, sir. If you just go that way,” she softly pointed past Zero, to a different doorway in the forward wall.

Zero did glance to the doorway, then focused on Iris fully, and smiled, sincere and warm… with a wink, “Thanks, Iris. You’re a very solid operator,” he turned, starting away. “Can already see that for myself.”

Iris was left blushing, staring at the empty space he left in the operations room. Far too late to be heard, she mumbled, “W-welcome, sir…”

* * *

X had managed to slip through a good portion of the jungle fortress’ structure, mainly thanks to its open design. His sensors allowed him to avoid the traps and detection systems thus far. Soon, however, it was clear his only way forward into the complex was an isolated, underground passage, clearly forged by-design despite being half-composed of dense tree roots.

 _If it wasn’t protecting the Virus, I’d be fond of how this place ties nature and technology together for a purpose, honestly,_ he realized as he took the risk to move down into the tunnel network.

Thankfully, the sensors and traps remained mostly along the floor or lower walls. He made generous use of his grapple-chain from Wire Sponge to fly along the roof. That didn’t help him when the entire tunnel narrowed down to a single security gate, however. X sighed heavily to himself, and maxed his sensors again.

The chamber beyond the security gate was just a big open space, with another gate beyond, according to sonic measurements through the terrain mixed with some infrared. With no other real option at the moment, the roots oddly good at resisting his helmet’s ability to dig thanks to their woven structure, he slid down, and checked the security panel on the door.

 _Hm, decent security, but not top of the line…_ He couldn’t help a moment of hesitation, then sighed, and started cracking the code with a set of algorithms and a hydra-protocol Alia had written up some months ago.

Still paranoid once the door opened, he quickly grapple-chained up to the wall inside the door, and started to move his way around the room’s siding to the other doorway…

That was when the room started rumbling violently. X froze, looking around in a rush, trying to find what he might’ve tripped or set off despite his checking. Nothing…

But his sensors felt the source of the violent shaking right through the wall he was holding to!

X shouted, leaping off, and dive-rolling as his right buster snapped into form, his left hand helping his back-slide as he faced the wall.

A heavily armored mechaniloid burst out of the wall where he’d been waiting. Massive mandibles and a thick, segmented body were clearly forged in some resemblance of a centipede. Except this digging tank could float with some kind of antigravity construction. It came driving straight for X across the room, spitting out two bouncing, spike-bombs to compensate for its slow advance.

X ripped to the side, buster snapping out and firing pulses into the two spike-bombs with cluster-shots each. They blew up into less harmful showers of armor-piercing spines just as the mechaniloid smashed into the floor where X had been and churned back into the surface with disturbing ease.

“Well… let’s _not_ get caught by that,” X muttered to himself, and then started to sprint around the chamber, energy curling and writhing over his frame as both arms started to store more and more power. It was so heavily armored, he wasn’t sure how much it would take to just drop the monstrosity in its tracks.

It started to burst back out some distance behind him, curving to chase him this time. As the spike-bombs were spat out, X suddenly hopped and twisted. One arm snapped off a buster-blast at full power, erasing both spike-bombs in a searing rush of plasma. The other arm tracked the mechaniloid’s head, then fired more precisely with a shock-pulse of back-blast behind X.

X widened his eyes as the mechaniloid gave a howl from the impact, crashing into the wall, belching smoke and fluid from the nearly incinerated head area… but kept going. It dug away into the wall as a momentary retreat.

Building more power, X full on boost-dashed around the chamber, sliding almost like an ice-skater with tight turns in a constant loop, waiting for the thing to burst out next…

There! It was churning up out of the ground. X snapped both arms straight at it, firing a wall of plasma in a beam that nearly filled that chunk of the room. He cut the blasts quickly, arms snapping out… and he was rewarded to see the mechaniloid’s lower half drop limply down, the upper portion simply GONE… as was a chunk of the far wall.

“Well then,” X muttered to himself, cycling his respirator as he looked to the next gate.

It opened on its own.

X narrowed his eyes. //Signas?//

//Retreating?//

//I’ve been spotted. At this point, I’ll be hunted regardless of the direction I go. I need to keep digging here.//

//X… Send an official alert to us, I’ll dispatch a shuttle, so we can at least get you some back up out there.//

X sighed again, but touched his audio receptor. “Base? Copy?”

“Reading you, X,” Dex replied.

“I’ve been detected, but I’m in too deep.”

Signas cut in, “Dex, dispatch a shuttle with a squad, get him some back-up. X, I recommend you retreat.”

X looked at the self-opened gate. “I’m not entirely sure that’s going to make a difference, sir.”

“…Understood. Dex?”

“Shuttle lifting off now. ETA ten cycles.”

X nodded to himself, and started to boost forward. “Thank you.”

* * *

Colonel turned in a smooth but sharp manner as Zero approached from the East side of his ‘battlefield.’ The new Reploid was ready for battle, but tipped his head politely. “It’s quite an honor, Zero. I thought I’d have to join the Maverick Hunters to eventually garner your attention.” He half-smiled.

Zero raised an eyebrow, smoothly drawing his green beam-saber off his shoulder, letting the volatile plasma flash out and seethe off the handle to his side. “So you did intend to join the Hunters? Interesting. Well, let’s cut to the chase, Colonel.” His head tipped down, a smirk forming for himself. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Both Reploids suddenly shot forward, swords slashing. A searing roar resounded from the first clash, then Zero back-twisted, ripping a full spiral-swipe through the air.

Colonel hopped back, and slammed his blade downward, aiming to catch Zero’s slash and knock him off balance.

Zero gave a faint laugh, and simply released his sword. Colonel’s swipe hit, whirling the weapon in mid air, but Zero didn’t move. Colonel’s optics widened with realization.

Zero then caught his blade underhand, and shot forward with an inverted slash at Colonel’s flank.

“Dive right!” Iris warned urgently over Colonel’s internal comm.

Colonel barely folded away in time. He sailed to his right, tucked, rolled, and skidded back on both feet and one hand, saber out to the side as his locked his view on Zero again.

Zero smoothly flowed out of the end of his dash, already accelerating after Colonel. “Come on, I’m waiting to be impressed!”

Colonel narrowed his optics, and then lunged out to meet Zero again.

This time the searing roar came from Zero batting aside Colonel’s stab, but it was a feint. Colonel hadn’t given his full momentum to the dive. Instead, he whipped around on one foot, going for a lightning fast slash at Zero’s boots.

Iris saw the feed, however, and realized a problem. Zero’s back was already folding in one direction… “Brother! Up!”

Colonel’s eyes flashed open again as he watched Zero somersault up into the air backwards. It was only Iris’ warning that gave him the time he needed to wrench his sword up in a hasty backslash uppercut.

It collided with Zero’s downward swipe mid-somersault. For that timeless moment, the two locked gazes, Zero confident and calmly amused, Colonel fierce as much as desperate.

Zero’s momentum was more direct and focused even so, and their blades drove down into the ground to Colonel’s left. Zero suddenly delivered a quick elbow-ram to Colonel’s chest-plating. It was just the right amount to knock the Reploid off-balance.

Colonel hit the ground with a frustrated growl, but even as he tried to snap up, a green-fire blade burned the air in front of his face. Ozone filled his olfactory sensors. Looking up the blade, the arm, he found Zero calmly smiling with a little nod.

“Not bad, Colonel. At least you know when to listen to your sister.”

Colonel blushed sharply, shivering emotion across his face, but he cleared his throat, closed his eyes, and offered back, “My sister is a consummate professional, and knows her duties well.”

Zero narrowed his eyes faintly. “You’re very proud, Colonel. Do you have justification for it?”

Colonel opened his eyes in a more controlled blaze back up at the red Reploid. “A warrior never releases his pride nor his weapon until he’s dead.”

Zero twirled his saber up into its sheath at his back, and he offered his hand to Colonel. His expression was unusually serious with the simple gesture.

Colonel looked down, closed his eyes again… and then slowly reached up, taking the hand, and letting Zero heft him to his feet. He deactivated his own saber, and clipped it to his belt-line. Afterward, he snapped into a rigid salute. “An honor, sir!”

Zero chose to return the salute despite it technically not applying. “As you were… Though I’d like you to come up into the operations room. Three of us should have a chat.”

Colonel raised an eyebrow. “On your lead, sir.”

* * *

Gate looked over a view of the end of the duel on his office screen. He smiled faintly, and deactivated the screen. He leaned back, casual in manner, and pulled out a small comm device.

“It's Gate. It's proceeding as planned. Just slightly ahead of schedule.”

Doppler's voice returned quietly. “Stay off the radar. Too many paths have been cut off already.”

“Understood. I'll go dark.”

Gate shut off the device... and crushed it in his hand. “Always keeping things interesting, Zero...”

* * *

“This is getting old,” X hissed to himself as he leapt from wall to wall. He was flying between swinging mace-chains, dragonfly divebombs, and kept hitting mechaniloid security gates around every turn. It was like the fortress was designed to keep him flitting around like a madbot.

Finally air-boosting into a ledge with a ladder, X reached a higher level of the oddly durable fortress, and started to rush along. The capsule signal was close now, and he felt paranoia gnawing at him. It was too much. A full set of capsules _in_ Doppler Town? And one inside an upper level of this obviously recent fortress construction? Nothing could’ve more-resembled bait in a trap.

Another mechaniloid gate snapped up in front of him. X deadpanned this time, and let his frame writhe over with building energy, looking up at the top of the gate as it started to ratchet down to full secure itself. He activated his sensors to full resolution, and confirmed with a mixture of sonic reverberation and air density measurement that the hallway had two _more_ gates already snapping up to block his way. There was some kind of chamber beyond, but his surface-penetrating sensors could only go so far.

X looked down at his arms, frowning thoughtfully. Both arms fully charged… too much. He braced, converting his left buster, and fired.

Plasma flash warped around him, a shockwave pulsing in his wake, a torrent of blue-pink-purple light surging forward. The first, second, and third gates flash melted open like tissue paper hit by a hard wind, the molten metal actually continuing to melt out to the edges from the raw force driving outward before it could start to re-cool to the relatively ‘freezing’ ambient temperature.

Thruster-dashing along, X leapt free of the hallway, finding a mostly enclosed chamber, with a hatch leading downward… but his eyes locked on the opposite wall, ahead of him. It was a solid example of the composite resin that comprised the entire structure in this synthetic jungle. He moved over to it, and actually put both hands against the surface… then closed his eyes and placed his forehead there as well.

Thick, reinforced, and signal dampening. If it wasn’t for Dr. Light’s unique signal to make him personally aware of the capsule, he’d never know anything was in there.

Meaning it was a baited trap _just_ for him. No one else would even waste time looking.

//X!// it was Alia this time. //Do --ou --ead?//

X focused his weapons into his comm systems for a moment to try and crack through the environmental interference. //Copy, Alia. Reading me?//

//Yes, that’s cleaner. Your backup is landing now, and with the battleplan I’ve drawn up, we’ll be hammering that jungle area hard.// She switched to the private, X-Hunter line, and added, //Neon Tiger should have Emergency Stasis installed, all of these Mavericks should, do you want to just let the invasion force take him down?//

X eased away from the wall, moving to pull open the hatch. _Sorry, Dr. Light. I’ll have to investigate that trap later. No time now._ On the X-Hunter line, he returned, //Someone might shoot him right through the processor and buffer. I don’t want to leave that up to chance.// On the actual Maverick Hunter line, he added, //Copy. I’m advancing to try and isolate the command codes for the mechaniloids in the jungle. Comms may drop out, broadcasting my current coordinates for a rally point.//

//X… Copy.//

“Sorry,” X muttered to his friend privately, and then started to descend, his weapon systems reactivating as he did.

* * *

When the last sphere-lock door opened, it was strangely quiet. X slipped into the space in his Chameleon Sting camouflage, and his optics tightened. It was like a contained jungle unto itself, not a bunker. Trees, vines, grass underfoot, oppressively moist air.

“I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.”

X froze, applying resources to his enhanced sensors. That voice was echoing and reverberating around the micro-jungle so heavily…

The enhanced senses were the only reason he kept his head. A surge of energy behind him, air sizzling in a swing. X dove forward, rolling, snapping one buster active and aiming backward as he rolled over his shoulder.

Neon Tiger was mid-slash with a set of glowing, golden energy claws extended off the knuckles of one fist. The red-armored infected Reploid was stone-like in his focus.

X was caught mentally even as he finished his roll. The moisture in the air had turned to steam in the wake of the claw-swipe, and one of the trees just fell apart that moment, long after the swipe had passed through it.

 _And his optics… it’s not the same infection,_ X realized as they locked gazes in that moment.

Tiger’s eyes were faintly flickering, but they didn’t have that glaze of the Wily Virus.

The Maverick finally straightened, but both fists clenched, snapping the blades out with malicious promise in the gesture. “You’ve made quite a mess of my defenses. Your army of Maverick Hunters might just punch through after all.” Neon raised one claw up. “I’m going to extract the payment for that debt from your plating. Slowly.”

X took a breath. “Neon Tiger, this doesn’t have to be a fight. If you stand down and consent to capture, I will make sure you get the treatment you need against this infection.”

Neon Tiger growled. “So damn _patronizing_!”

The Maverick was on X like a bolt, both claws swiping inward. X could barely yank his helmet down fast enough, and he rolled sharply to avoid a follow-up down-swipe as Neon Tiger full-flipped over himself.

Neon Tiger slammed to his haunches as X rolled onto his feet, and they both twisted, claws and busters bared. Tiger’s tail was angled over one shoulder, aiming at X as well. The end of the limb had some kind of emitter array on it.

“Tiger, I know this isn’t you,” X tried once more. “Doppler’s treatment was a lie. It infected you. This is not your fault, and I am on your side. I need your help to stop this madness.”

Tiger smiled faintly, and when his optics blinked, his tailtip suddenly burst with a blinding brilliance throughout the micro-jungle.

X cried out, his optics overloaded, especially with his senses so heightened to dodge the original claw swipe. But he could still hear, and Dr. Light’s designs were so powerful. The sheering air of a leaping Maverick made X yank himself down to the right, but he knew he was exposed. His left arm snapped up defensively.

Neon Tiger roared as his swiped past, watching his claws tear through most of X’s left forearm with flash-melted plating and inner machinery liquefying out like the servo fluid that flash-vaporized.

X cried out from the pain afresh, crashing onto his right side, and quickly rolling away. Energy started to writhe and course over his frame even as he got back to his knees.

Neon Tiger never stopped. Tail snapping this way and that, unleashing pulses of plasma energy, he twisted from his landing, and charged back at X on all fours, ready to snap his energy claws out and drive them into the Hunter’s chest.

X’s colors flashed to paler hues, and he suddenly roared, snapping his arms out. Pulsing distortion waves ripped through the air as time and gravity warped in a confined space. Neon Tiger twitched, optics warping as he realized he was all but floating toward X.

X twisted out and away, far less slowed by the effect himself, and finally regained some semblance of focus with his optics. One arm sparking and useless from the elbow down, he snapped the other buster down toward the back of Neon Tiger’s head, sailing back between several blasts from the tail that were slowly burning their way through the timewarped air.

X fired once.

Neon Tiger started to wrench his head down and twist with his dive, but so-slowed as he was, the blast still tore into part of his head. An ear and several plates of armor were semi-melted and torn off, and he crashed and tumbled away.

The timewarp effect faded, and the two Reploids braced, panting with overheated respirators, both injured now.

“Just… stand down,” X finally repeated, his voice mildly distorted from the damage so far.

Neon Tiger sneered. “You’re always so naïve, X.”

The voicetone made X’s optics narrow. “…So you’re a puppet program _for_ the Virus.”

Tiger’s sneer twisted into a freakish grin, unmatched to the bodyframe. Abruptly, Tiger’s frame flashed over with plasma energy, turning almost entirely golden, claws erupting out and lengthening double-again from both hands.

“I might actually kill you this time. I can’t just roll over!”

Neon Tiger suddenly exploded toward X, churning up terrain and burning air alike.

X unleashed a sudden blast of energy from his _boots_ , and it snap-flipped him just barely over Tiger’s flickering charge… while X’s colors snapped darker, and strange, diamond-like floating devices were left in his wake.

Neon Tiger twisted, optics flaring as it watched the magnet mines hurtle back toward him. “NO!”

The mines hit, and exploded in a cluster-wave of shocking force even before X could fully land.

X gasped, clutching his wounded arm, and watched Neon’s mostly shattered and burnt frame crash flat. “…Sorry, Tiger.”

He shuffled over, and started to dig into the damaged frame to pull the personality chip and system buffer free. And… yes, there were the security codes. Limited to the jungle. As expected.

//X! The jamming just vanished, what’s… Oh Light, X, your vitals are…// Alia’s voice weakened and trailed as she finally got support data for him again.

X cycled his respirator thickly again. //Neon Tiger is down. Jungle mechaniloids and defenses should be dying down as we speak. If… you can lock on, a teleport home would be very helpful.//

Alia didn’t even respond verbally before energy washed over X and blinked him out of existence.


	3. Stronger than Gravity

“Do you often come watch over him?” Signas asked with some quiet humor and sympathy.

Alia jerked subtly with surprise, and then glanced over her shoulder with a faint blush and half-smile. “N-not always...”

X was being repaired in a stasis-pod. There were several like it in the bay, a few in use, and the room was kept dimly lit due to most of the process being automated.

Signas eased up on Alia's right rather than behind her. “You do a lot for him.”

Before Alia could awkwardly respond, the bay doors opened again. The two reploids looked, to see Quickman moving up to them rather briskly, his expression unusually serious for his usual manner. It had both Alia and Signas grim immediately.

“Report...?” Signas prompted out of social habit in HQ.

Quickman tipped his head, then flicked a glance to the stasis-pod. “X isn't out yet?”

Alia shook her head. “Not yet, his arm was badly diced up by Tiger's photon-blades.” Her arms folded as she managed her own stress, a subtle frown forming. “Can you tell us?”

Quickman shrugged physically, but then he spoke over the X-Hunter line. //We're going to have a serious problem with Gravity Beetle.// Aloud, he said, “Just checking on him, ma'am.”

Signas said, “Glad to see X has such concerned comrades.” And on the line, //Why so specifically?//

Alia raised an eyebrow. For a beat she was too focused on their private conversation, then realized she should keep up appearances as well. “He inspires it...” She almost rolled her eyes at herself.

Neither of her companions fixated on the awkward response.

Quickman explained, //He wasn't supposed to get the inoculation in the first place. He's an old Reploid, from the experimental work. ...And it gets a bit worse.//

Before they could properly continue that, however, the bay doors opened yet again. All three twisted with confusion, then Alia and Quickman moved to salute. Signas nodded sharply.

Zero walked in, followed by Colonel and Iris in an almost escort formation. Zero was serious, but saluted to let the two relax. Colonel and Iris saluted Signas, who returned the favor.

“Commander, Alia, Quickman, didn't expect a crowd, sorry,” Zero began, remaining serious. “This is Colonel and Iris, couple of new recruits I just plucked from a private lab for us.” He flicked a little smile. “Colonel, Iris, this is Commander Signas, Alia, one of our best operations officers, and Quickman, one of our best Hunters.”

Basic greetings were shared, and then Zero nodded past everyone. “X put himself out of commission again, I see.”

Alia was instantly responding, “He saved a lot of lives against those mechaniloids in the jungle, yes, sir.”

Zero and Signas both side-eyed her.

Zero replied, “He would've done better with some tactical support.” Then he turned, gesturing back to Iris. “Alia, I want you to take Iris to the command center. Show her the ropes. Her scores are off the charts, so don't go easy. Get her up to speed.”

Iris blushed, but quickly tipped her head to Alia to show she was attentive. “Grateful for the opportunity, ma'am.”

Alia clenched her jaw briefly, then saluted. “Of course, sir.” She quickly moved around, smiling for Iris and Colonel. “Come on. Zero never kids around with deadlines.”

“Yes, ma'am!” Iris chimed, following her out.

Signas and Quickman focused back on Zero and Colonel.

“New field Hunter?” Signas prompted to keep things moving.

Zero nodded, and Colonel saluted once more.

“He's talented, and works extremely well with Iris as an operator. Make use of it, please, Commander?” Zero requested as politely as he was able.

Signas showed a faint smile again. “Of course. ...Quickman, why don't you show Colonel here to the barracks, and we'll see what squad assign--?”

Zero cut him off with, “Dr. Cain will handle the squad assignment, don't worry, commander. I just want to make sure Colonel is settled in.”

Quickman saluted after a little glance amongst them, and gestured as he walked past Colonel. “Right this way, Uniformion.”

Colonel glowered, but twisted to follow.

When it was just Signas and Zero, Zero sighed.

“...Quickman might get stabbed.”

“He dodges well,” Signas returned almost casually. “Is there anything else you'd like me aware of, Zero?” The balance of obedience and command in his voice was razor-precise.

Zero caught the subtle check in that question. His eyes tightened. _Haven't felt stared down like this since..._ “No, sir. Sorry, I just know Dr. Cain had an agenda on the docket, didn't want to cause confusion.”

Signas nodded, and then eases around to depart himself. “...X will be fine.”

Zero blinked, and was left silent as the doorway sealed in Signas' wake. He slowly looked back to the pod where X was healing. “...Will he?”

* * *

//I'm online,// X's voice joined the X-hunter system an hour or so later. //Status?//

//X, did you literally just wake up?// Alia comm'd back anxiously. Iris was giving her a glance of confusion in the commander center as the woman suddenly looked off.

//War doesn't wait on sleep.//

Quickman joined in next, //X, Gravity Beetle is going to be a problem. It's... He's my brother.//

The comm channel was noticeably silent for several seconds as everyone worked to avoid revealing their shock. Colonel just nearly landed a sparring swipe on Quickman's head.

X finally managed, //...How did you having a brother slip through the cracks?//

//He and I took care of that after I was... separated from the experimental facilities. Higher ups were happy to keep things quiet, they didn't push on it.//

//...Is he as smart as you?// X pressed grimly.

//Yes, but he was also gentler. The virus, whichever version of it, might make him unstable enough to unbalance. My concern is the tech he might have access to now. He'll put it to use better than most.//

//Understood. Thank you for the warning, Quickman. Alia?//

//On it. I'll find a reason to justify focused analysis on him.//

//You're the best, Alia,// X returned with a bit more warmth.

//She really is!// Pyrostrike chimed in abruptly, causing a wave of muffled laughter on the channel, and Alia's struggling attempt to not blush while working with Iris.

* * *

Iris tightened her eyes slightly as she rechecked a few lines of verification on the document list she was compiling. Alia had just stepped away to tend to something urgent, leaving Iris with this task for a quick-reference intel guide for the Doppler Town maps and facilities.

She knew someone was near her a moment later, but didn't want to lose her focus. It was the command center, after all, it was a busy place.

“Seems like you're fitting in already.”

Iris briefly glanced up to Zero as he leaned near her console, checking over her work... and side-glancing her with a little smile.

Iris blushed as she looked back to her data properly. “N-not sure about that, sir, but I'll do my best, I promise.”

Zero shrugged calmly. “Seems to be the case. So what do you think of Alia?”

“She's one of the most skilled operatives I've met, sir. It's an honor to work with her.”

Zero tipped his head, and then touched Iris' shoulder... which was a signal connection for a nonverbal commlink.

Iris blinked up at him more seriously, but accepted the link, and then they both looked at her screen as she kept working, now on edge.

//But more seriously, have you noticed anything strange?// Zero continued on the commline.

Iris started to shake her head, but then her brow creased, her eyes tightening again. //...She sometimes loses focus for a few seconds. As if distracted. But she's right back on track when she snaps out of it.//

Zero nodded.

Alia returned that moment, and she blinked a little at Zero as he straightened up. “Zero, are you trying to intimidate the poor kid?” she challenged playfully, chuckling.

Zero rolled his eyes dryly, and Iris just blushed with a faint laugh (while still working). “Just checking in! How's Iris doing, Alia?”

Alia gestured to the screen where Iris was working. “She's doing fantastic. None of our new recruits are this sharp.”

Iris' blush was spreading over her face, and she had to retype her latest entry.

Alia and Zero noticed, but controlled their reactions to light smiles.

“I'm glad to hear it,” Zero continued. “Would it be a problem if I took her away from the work here for a little while? Wanted to go over some things with my team.”

Iris glanced up to him curiously, and Alia just shrugged.

“No problem. She's picked everything up super fast.” Alia looked down to Iris directly. “Just ping me when you're done with Zero, and I'll make sure you get flagged for proper access and encryption on your own login. And keep an eye open for mistakes like that one you caught before. Might need your help reigning in the other recruits,” she admitted with a little smirk.

Iris giggled, and nodded. “Of course, sir!”

Alia blushed a little at being called sir, too, but was clearly chuffed.

Zero chuckled. “Come on, Iris. Let's go get your brother.”

As the two left the command center, Alia only then faded to a concerned look. _He's getting cagey..._

* * *

Colonel and Iris both stood with calm expectancy as Zero closed the door of the small meeting room. They both grew a bit more troubled when the crimson Reploid placed a device on the table between them, and it emitted a field across the room.

Iris frowned softly. “...A signal jammer?”

Zero nodded, showing an openly grim expression. “You've both looked around, been able to interact with a few people. Iris has noticed some... oddities. How about you, Colonel?”

Iris looked up to her brother, who tightened his eyes, and then glanced off while analyzing his memory more closely.

“...Somewhat, sir, yes. The veteran who was escorting me around, Quickman? He has a reserve behind his aggravating demeanor that tells me he's acting at almost all times. I don't trust him.”

Iris pouted, but didn't try to correct the notion, looking back to Zero.

Zero tipped his head. “And there's plenty of that kind of trouble to be noticed around here. This is part of what I need you guys for. Part of why I'm forging this team outside of the normal chain of command. I need to confirm, here and now, if you two are comfortable helping me observe the other Maverick Hunters. Unstable behavior, violent tendencies, anything that could hint at Maverick corruption. How about it?”

Iris looked down sadly. Colonel saluted. “It would be an honor to defend the upright character of our institution, sir!”

Zero smiled seriously for Colonel, and then focused more fully on Iris. Colonel finally glanced down to her, clearly angered by her hesitance, but not snapping.

Iris rubbed an arm, glancing aside. “I am... not particularly talented at covert operations, sir. M-maybe I should be excluded to avoid risk of information leaks?”

Zero set his hands on his hips, tilting his head. “Are you saying you think you're incompetent, or are you saying you'd support Reploids going Maverick?”

Iris flinched, and Colonel gripped his sword tightly to control himself. He as caught between Zero insulting his sister, and his sister somewhat inviting it with her own words.

“In... Incompetent, sir.”

Zero narrowed his eyes. “We both know you're not stupid, Iris. What's the real reason?”

Iris winced. “P-please, sir, I... I don't want to get friends in trouble. Alia was very kind to me, and if she's part of the problem you're investigating, I... I...”

Colonel rounded on her. “Iris! If this Alia is undermining the Maverick Hunters she is your enemy as much as my own!”

Iris flinched away from him, nodding, but she was more upset than agreeing.

Zero sighed heavily. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Iris, if we find out Alia is doing nothing wrong, and is just... quirky, then there's nothing to report on. But if we find out she is doing something that makes keeping people alive more difficult, which side of that conversation do you really want to be on?” He looked up to her eyes as he finished, his gaze intense, but focused, calm.

Iris looked out to him, but she wasn't flinching like she did with her brother. The intensity of Zero's gaze was almost inspiring. She was... compelled rather than afraid. “I... I would... want to protect as many lives as possible, sir.”

Zero tipped his head. “So will you please help me?”

Colonel raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two.

Iris looked down, frowning, her brow knitting, but she was clearing working toward an answer. She fidgeted, swallowed, and then looked up again. “...Yes, sir.”

Zero offered a wan smile. “Thank you, Iris.” Then he straightened a bit. “So then... the first real order of business. Doppler Town is the absolute priority, but I feel like things are being arranged under the surface to manipulate how the Hunters are responding. Iris, I want you to keep this in mind while you help with the logistics and data. See where it's all being fed and by whom. Remember, anyone could be part of this concern. If it COULD be suspicious, treat as suspicious, and log it for us to review together later. Clear?”

Iris straightened, stronger, more confident, and saluted. “Crystal clear, sir.”

Zero nodded, and focused on Colonel. “You have suspicions of Quickman. Follow-up on that, but discretely. Do NOT tip your hand that you're observing him, just try and find every excuse to be near him. If anyone asks why, it's hero worship.”

Colonel deadpanned, but saluted. “Understood, sir.”

Zero tipped his head to Colonel, and then reached over to the device on the table, but kept it active a moment more. “Iris, one more thing. I suspect Dex, in operations, might be aware of some suspicious activity, too. The problem is I can't tell if he's on the same side as some of the others, or if he's just digging quietly for himself. If you find something one way or the other, let me know. If he could can be part of our team, all the better.”

Iris blinked, but nodded quickly. “I met Dex, briefly, sir. I'll see to it.”

“Good.” And Zero finally disabled the jammer. “Keep up the good work, and train hard, you two.”

They both saluted. “Thank you, sir!”

* * *

With what small measure of downtime there was before Alia found something to drive toward Gravity Beetle's holdings, X tried to move forward with the other part of their constant war. Risking a trip back to the X-Hunter bunker, he patched in Neon Tiger's buffer and processor to network-isolated analysis systems.

 _This entire Doppler Town debacle smells different. It's not quite the Wily Virus' style..._ X pondered, looking over the initial scan results grimly.

The difference was immediately apparent, X's optics widening. “In Light's Name... This is... a completely different infection...” He took the partial mapping and rotated it around in the display, analyzing the different coding functions and behaviors as the system continued to build it out.

The Doppler Virus was simpler than the Wily one, yet still supremely advanced compared to most programming and AI work. That was always why Wily and Light had been the pillars of culture they were, good or bad. Their genius was decades ahead of the world around them. Doppler was just... a few years ahead.

“You're mimicking the Wily infection, but not able to keep up. Adapting based on analysis, but... slower.”

X frowned from his musings, and started to draw up more comparison data while the system finished mapping out the infected buffer.

“There it is.”

He focused on pulling up the more complete model, while comparing it to several other coding systems in smaller screens down one side of his display. X nodded to himself. “It's Doppler's coding style, but with the Virus' goals and drive behind it. A... simulation of itself. Enough to drive a Reploid mad, but it's not the same. This... this is curable.”

X immediately shifted the analysis data over to a normal interface, and started running a few tests. The new infection was still defeating the first few attempts, but the responses... X smiled faintly. “You can't adapt as fast. There's baseline logic to your responses. You're a program, not a shifting, living target.”

He rubbed at his jaw, leaning back to think. _The Virus wouldn't leave anything to chance, though. It would know better than anyone that Doppler's facsimile isn't enough, that it can be beaten. Soon. Dr. Cain can cure this, he'd only need a few days. So this can't be everything. There's something else going on..._

X leaned onto his knees, optics sharpening with thought. The capsules being in such suspicious locations...

His head lifted slowly, expression dark as it focused on the false virus being tested and pushed by his initial anti-virus baseline. “This entire thing is bait for me. Thousands of lives, our entire society in panic, just to get me exposed on the Virus' terms. ...Damn you...”

His fists clenched. Abruptly, he shifted over, pulling out the personality chip, and moved to a separate console. The chip was connected, and he patched in himself...

X was in the virtual space, his form simulated in a bubble of shifting code. And beyond him was Neon Tiger, similarly virtual, and confused.

Tiger blinked, looking around rapidly, then focused on X more directly. “What... what is this? You... killed me...”

X showed a sorrowful expression. “I blew up your frame to get to your personality chip and system buffer. I know you were infected. I need your help to save the rest before too many lives are lost.”

Tiger's face shifted, turning guilty, worried. Finally, he slumped. “How... how many did I kill?”

“So far, none, thankfully, but that's luck for us all. What do you remember?”

Tiger winced, glancing around. “I... I only remember feeling fine, relieved that I'd taken the anti-virus. Everything seemed normal. Then I... one day I just--It was like some kind of monster swallowed my mind. I could see, almost act, but it was never enough. It used me to... It was just this grinding, screaming order. Secure the jungle, kill anyone else. Over and over and over.” Tiger slowly rubbed at his head. “...Light, it's good to have quiet in my skullplates again.”

X frowned thoughtfully. “...That was it? Nothing else? Just the overpowering urge to hold that territory and kill?”

Tiger nodded. “I'm sorry, X. It's all a haze of rage and pain. I... I tried to slow it down as it was going after you, I knew I was the problem, but I... I was too weak... pathetic...” He grimaced, fists clenching as his emotions expressed through his virtual frame.

X lifted a hand. “You're not weak or pathetic. Most couldn't even try. ...Tiger, would you... would you want to take on a new identity to fight back against the infection? Or do you want to be helped as a victim of it? There's too much going on, if you want to work with me, it has to be covert.”

Neon Tiger stared back at X, optics clenched. “...Why covert? Wouldn't showing I'm clean of the infection help more?”

X showed a wan smile. “If that's your path, then that's the way to go. I'll get you reinstalled in a frame like your own, and Dr. Cain will verify you himself.” Privately, it confirmed something for him. The Doppler infection was it's own monster. It had to be handled differently.

Tiger tipped his head. “Please, yes. I... I need to answer for this. With my own voice.”

X bowed a little. “See you on the other side.”

And the connection shut off.

* * *

Light blazed through the hangar, reflecting off hundreds of crates and utility platforms spread across the runways and landing tracks of the skyport. Metallic blue glinted around a sharp optic as it looked out across the mix of storage units and open, nearly indefensible territory.

“Blast Hornet, are your forces in position?”

The voice was low, mildly rasped, and calm with focus.

The response was breathy and hollow, as if its owner was speaking through a respirator. “Ready and waiting, Gravity Beetle. This ruse of yours had better work. This required significant investment.”

Gravity Beetle lowered his head, his elevated stalk of bladed horns glinting brilliantly as it came down into the reflected sunlight. “I will empty their walls upon my killing field, Blast. Your failure will be your own.”

Blast Hornet gave a sharp 'hmph' before the line clicked off.

Gravity Beetle slipped back into the darkness of his hangar. “Activate the surge.”

Energy started to crackle and writhe off of dozens of the crates, spread throughout the skyport. It looked like a lightning storm on the ground in only a moment.

“Moths to flame...”

* * *

“Red alert! Energy surge at the Doppler Town skyport!” Alia urgently called into the Maverick Hunter comm system, her hand at her audio-receptor as she looked across several stations of screens.

Dex twisted from his own station. “Confirmed, the surge signature is in the open port lanes! There is no cover out there!”

Iris was blazing her hands across controls as she analyzed the incoming data herself just across the command center from Dex. “The signal is corresponding to high-yield plasma bombs, sir, but the readout is far too unstable for standard explosives!”

Signas ran into the command center that moment. “We can't risk hesitating! I need all available squads on that skyport immediately!”

//Signas, this is bait,// Quickman's signal came over the X-Hunter line, grim.

//Damn effective bait,// Signas retorted privately. //What would you have us do, Quickman? Those surges could be a weapon of mass destruction.//

//Gravity Beetle doesn't need to blow himself up, he needs you to hit his holdings immediately. That means we need to be looking somewhere else.//

X's signal finally joined. //I hear you, Quickman, but what do you want us to do? We can't scout every part of Doppler Town so quickly, and that signal is far too powerful to dismiss on your word alone. I believe you, but we need something to act on.//

Alia glanced tensely to Signas as various squad-leaders confirmed they were re-routing to the skyport from the jungle border.

Quickman finally came back, //If he wants a city-scale response, then it means he wants all of us moving. That means... the jungle or HQ. He wants one of them more vulnerable.//

//...A couple of squads assigned to hold ground is logical,// Pyrostrike replied this time. //If we make sure it's a squad or two of _us_ , we should be able to buy time once the real plan is revealed? Allow more forces to respond properly?//

Quickman clenched his fists as he stood in one of the hoverbike tents the Hunters had set-up on the fringe of the jungle. //...I can't offer better right now, true.//

Alia flicked a glance to Signas, who nodded subtly. Iris caught the little look, painfully mindful of Zero's orders, but the energy signal was sincerely bothering her as well, and so many lives were at risk. She made a note, but focused on the signal.

“Pyrostrike, Depthcharge, I need your squads to hold position,” Alia started ordering on the main comms. “We at least need guard-detail on our jungle encampment and HQ beyond logistical staff.”

“Copy, ma'am!” they chimed sharply.

X was running into the teleporter chamber of HQ. //Quickman! With me! We need to bring Gravity Beetle down fast, I think you'll agree?//

Quickman blinked his optic visor, then nodded to himself. //Yes... Thank you, X. En route.//

He hopped onto the hoverbike and revved out with one of the first lines of Hunters mobilizing.

* * *

The gargantuan open pad of cement resembled some mad kind of storm upon the ground, clusters of crates acting like nodes between arcing lattices of power. Dozens of Maverick Hunters were rushing in from all sides, each squad equipped with at least one scanner trying to fully ID what was giving off such immense quantities of power.

X and Quickman flitted across the field, dodging between forks of power as they skittered around them. X had his sensors revving to max as they did, but Quickman seemed fully focused on getting to the main hangar at the far side of the field.

Energy readings, X-ray and UV visual scans, and quick network draws of crate design models filled X's HUD. “Even if these are all bombs, the plasma is so unstable they wouldn't have yield beyond this field!”

Quickman suddenly spin-flipped, his body moving at such speed that he flickered, and his hand-gripped blade slashed through a crate. It blew up! As a puff of plasma-charged air and chunks of crate. “Bait!” he affirmed sharply as he landed. “He wants us all _in_ the field!”

X watched that explosion with full sensor-focus, then nodded to Quickman as he dashed along in the Reploid's wake. //Iris was right! These are not bombs, these are just messy plasma dischargers! Advising re-secure of our primary perimeters!//

Before Signas or Alia could sound a confirmation, something far stranger happened.

The sky darkened. And the next instant, something suddenly crushed down toward the ground. Invisible, but so extreme the air itself was starting to warp and flicker. Virtually every Maverick Hunter but the most physically powerful frames were immediately flatted prone, and the ones still on their feet were halted mid-motion, barely able to stay standing.

Quickman and X were flattened, but X's frame as adapting to the intense pressure, allowing him to start pushing himself up despite it.

X groaned, clenching his teeth. “What... is this?”

Quickman shivered on the ground, his optics sharpening out toward the hangar. “...Gravity.”

* * *

Pyrostrike frowned firmly as he heard the panicked comm chatter from the hangar-field army suddenly getting smashed into the ground. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen now. Optics out, stay frosty.”

The rest of the Jungle outpost security force readied their weapon systems, and looked out, wary and watchful.

Depthcharge paused, angling his head. “...You hear that?”

Pyrostrike angled his head, audio-receptors dialing up. “...Buzzing...” He snapped his heat-blades fully out over his hands. “Incoming.”

Mechanical insects, modeled like hornets, but far larger, suddenly burst around the trees all around the outpost perimeter, swarming in from all sides.

Depthcharge whipped around, firing off missiles from both arms in a quick spread. They exploded up and around him, erasing part of the cloud of hornets, but more immediately rushed into the gap.

Turbo flickered and snapped between parts of the perimeter near him, slicing hornets to ribbons, but he wasn't doing much better. “Light, there's hundreds of them!”

Just ending a spinning blitz of his blades, Pyrostrike looked back across the different members of his squad in the split-second of respite it earned him. //HQ, robotic hornet swarm at the jungle outpost, I can't be sure we can hold this!//

* * *

Cadis was perched beside one of the defense cannons, her rifle down in her hands as she looked around the ground level for anything suspicious. The cannons all around the building shifted subtly as they scanned for similar reasons.

She was just starting to feel like she should've been at the field deployment when she caught something, and focused UP.

“...What the...?” Her optics sharpened and zoomed up toward a dark cloud. With enough zoom, it abruptly became clear it was more of the hornets. A fresh swarm. Cadis snapped up her rifle, long-aiming, and firing off shots as quickly as she could draw beads.

//Hornets! Mechaniloid hornets are swarming from directly above HQ! Get the guns aimed UP!//

Deepfreeze snapped a hand to his audio-receptor. //Cadis, good eyes. Squad, to the roof. Blow out as much of that swarm as you can, then drop down the flanks of the building to keep them off!//

In just a few seconds, Maverick Hunter HQ was like a pillar of energy storming up toward the wave of hornets crashing down toward it.

* * *

X groaned, straining to get up further than his knees as the shimmering pressure of the gravity storm kept trying to grind him down into the ground. His sensors at max were only giving him a processor pain, without offering solutions. Or maybe he was just distracted.

He saw Quickman trying to flicker to a better position, but all he was really accomplishing was jittering in place, growling at his own failures. A quick scan of the optics around the storming field showed even heavier Hunters like Snapvice, Warp Turtle, Frost Walrus, and others barely able to stay upright, yet along maneuver.

A droning hum added to the storm's chorus, and X quickly wrenched his head up to see, his optics dilating. Even more hornet mechaniloids were surging down upon the field now, just like the jungle camp and HQ.

 _What in Light's name can counter gravity itself?_ He had to think, and fast. This was going to turn into a slaughter in seconds. He was out of time, and had no answers!

“Almost anticlimactic, isn't it?”

X twisted as much as he could, optics desperately locking onto none other than Gravity Beetle himself. The Maverick was smiling maliciously with those sharp optics in his armored faceplating, the stalk-horns glinting in the stormlight.

“Beetle! No!” Quickman desperately shouted, his servos grinding as he tried to lift off the ground.

Gravity Beetle chuckled, and then swung his head back, clearly unaffected by the gravity waves. His horns came slicing down in a glittering arc, aiming to cut X down the flank as the hornet mechaniloids were just reaching ground level.

X's expression etched with a kind of fury in that timeless moment. Ultimate desperation and outrage. The only thing his mind could conceive of without any time left was electromagnetics.

X's left buster snapped into the magnetic-mine configuration and _dropped_ , firing a mine straight into the ground at his left.

Quickman and Beetle both gawked, Beetle still mid-motion with his own momentum.

The explosion shredded parts of X's thigh, flank, and left buster, but it also threw him aside, grinding along the ground as gravity still crushed upon him. The explosion itself never rose high enough to threaten Beetle, gravity crushing the particles, flames, and even the force down harshly, turning into a vague dome wave of the elements instead of a full explosion.

But it got X out of the horn-swipe that would have cut him nearly in half.

Unfortunately, it did nothing about the hornets. The army of Hunters trapped in the field started to cry out in pain or strain against it as the hornet, somehow immune to the gravity waves as well, bit, pierced, and slashed across the Hunters' frames. Locusts on a field of armored flesh.

Beetle recovered into another chuckle. “Clever, though desperate. And now you won't even be as fast. Almost too easy, but then I had weeks to set this up.”

Quickman gave a building roar, painfully slow compared to his usual capacity, but he still rose up while lunging, mixing the downward pressure with his own forward rush of limbs, trying to swing a cutter blade in at Beetle's hornstalk. “It's an infection! We know!”

Beetle snapped a hand up, catching Quickman's wrist, and clenching enough to dent the armored skin. Quickman grunted, and X growled, trying to shift into a standing position while still thinking desperately.

“Everyone knows that now. You do seem to care an unusual amount, I'll grant you.”

“Stop this madness!” Quickman managed despite his pain and effort just to stay up. “You were always the gentle one...”

That gave the Maverick pause. Only for a corepulse. Then the optics sharpened to slits, and Beetle roared, swinging Quickman around like a whip, and sending him crashing through one of the discharging crates and a few hornets. The Hunter cried out in pain from the various injuries cut into his frame, and hit the ground all the harder, sprawled flat.

Only one other idea came to X, as he fell to his knuckles and knees fully again. Energy started to course and rush into his frame as he glared up toward Gravity Beetle. “You're a knock-off infection, at that. A decoy,” he growled out, shivering with exertion.

Beetle raised an optic ridge, but then suddenly started to rip forward, horns slashing down. This time they'd slam down into X's head.

X's colors snapped to Crystal Shot hues, his working buster realigning, but he suddenly roared and wrenched himself back, up, and his limbs out.

Time. It was the only thing he could think to slow gravity.

Distorting, pulsing waves of distorted time bloomed out of X's frame like a liquid explosion. It meant little for everyone else, couldn't protect them from the enemy attacks biting into them, but it did mean one thing:

X could move again.

The Light-built Hunter suddenly leaned into a charging rush at Gravity Beetle, roaring in his unique empathetic rage as his friends and comrades suffered all around him.

Gravity Beetle stared in shock, watching X flicker and rush toward him, impossibly so. “How the--!?”

* * *

Pyrostrike grunted as hornets cut past his left shoulder and right flank, but he stood firm while building more and more flames over his incinerating cutters. “Depthcharge, Turbo, Spikesaw! Have an idea, but it requires precision!”

Spikesaw had all of his spike edge revving to max, but was getting chipped, cut, and slashed as often as he was killing hornets with his body and blade swipes. “It'll work on this many tiny targets!?”

Turbo was flickering, rushing, and cutting through hornets, but even he had knicks, gashes, and dents collecting on his frame as he danced with the swarm. “What do you need, Pyro!?”

Depthcharge bashed, swept, and stomped, but only occasionally fired his modified torpedoes to blow up clusters of hornets while trying to assess the situation better himself. “I'm listening!”

Pyrostrike suddenly rushed forward, still holding the burning rushes over his arms, and spin-flipped over one of the portable consoles of the jungle camp to land in the heart of the ambush. “Relaying targeting coordinates to you Depthcharge. The timing sequence is exact! Spikesaw, maximum velocity blades for a wind current! Turbo, shooting you a running path. Maximum speed!” Even as he landed, he was getting sliced, cut, and torn at, but he wasn't firing. He was still pulling and building flames along his incinerators, looking up...

“I get it!” Depthcharge called sharply while suddenly activating both of his launchers. He snapped around, arms out, firing once. Twice. Thrice. He stomped down a hornet before launching the fourth!

His missiles flew out, arcing to four different points of the battle field.

Even as they were in flight, Spikesaw stomped his legs firmly into place, arms out, blades revving faster, faster, faster into a rushing torrent of air currents around his frame. The hornets had to avoid his section entirely for a few seconds... but it would only last a few seconds before they adapted. “WORK FAST!”

Turbo did. He blitzed into a circular path around the camp, between Depthcharge and Spikesaw, but around Pyrostrike. The raw speed started to create another, much more powerful air current. A vortex. “DO IT NOW!”

The torpedoes exploded in sequence, and the mastery of Pyrostrike's plan took form in a chorus of fire, smoke, and shattering hornets. The air currents pulled each explosion into the next, creating a firestorm and shockwave of spiraling wrath... around Pyrostrike.

The hornets had to rush into a rising tornado of angry metal and wings... directly above the burning Hunter.

Pyrostrike roared as he kicked his systems into maximum output, and rammed his arms vertical. A gout of flame erupted into a torrent of fire, and the combination of his allies efforts and the hornets' own swirling formation wrenched his conflagration into a funnel of incinerating power. The hornets' wings sucked the fire into them own formation like a hungry beast.

From ground to sky, the swarm was churned into charred metal and ruined wings, all of the hundreds of tiny machine starting to crash down as macabre rain.

Pyrostrike fell to his knees, his core pulsing violently as his respirator went to full circulation. “P-Pyrostrike to HQ... jungle clear... for now.”

Turbo finally stopped, and joined Depthcharge and Spikesaw in just quietly staring at their comrade in respectful awe for a moment.

* * *

At HQ, Alia listened to Pyrostrike's exhausted, strained voice as she looked at the footage being fed from his squad. Finger to audio-receptor, she smiled gently, “Nicely done, sir...”

Dex sideglanced the obviously personal moment for Alia, but quickly looked back to his datafeeds at his own console. “Signas, sir! Swarm's going to hit roof height in ten seconds!”

Signas nodded faintly, and drew his purple plasma blade from his belt-line, turning toward the command center doors. “Let Deepfreeze know I'll be joining his team. Alia, you have the floor.”

Alia, Iris, Dex, and the rest of the command crew blinked at his back, but then Alia quickly ran over to the central console as he left the room. “Keep the feeds going from the airfield! Iris, see if we can't request an artillery hit from the human military!”

Iris gawked, though most of the room did pause for a corepulse. “A-artillery, sir!?”

Alia looked to her seriously. “They're being torn apart by a swarm. They need area suppression, and we're spread too thin!”

Iris blinked, saw the logic, and nodded sharply, twisting back to her console and opening comm lines.

* * *

Cadis snapped off blast after blast from her high-powered rifle up into the swarm, but she could see how little it was doing. She took out dozens of hornets in lines with her shots, but there were hundreds! “D-Deepfreeze, sir, what should I do!?”

Deepfreeze was on the roof with Inferno in the center. Tripwire and Overload were on either side, taking out the occasional forerunners of the swarm with quick zaps and slicing whip-lashes.

“Exactly what you are doing, Cadis. Good shooting. As for the swarm...” Deepfreeze trailed off and looked to Inferno simply. “Thermal expansion, Inferno?”

Inferno raised an optic ridge, then primed both heat-blasters. “It'll need to be massive, Freeze, are you sure?”

“Oh yes.”

The smaller, paler Hunter braced down with his legs, aimed up with his cyroblasters, and narrowed his optics. “Command, hold all turret fire on my mark!”

Dex returned, //A-all fire?//

“Unless you want to lose the cannons entirely in a minute.”

//Copy! Cannons going offline on mark!//

Cadis blinked. “What are we doing?”

Overload braced as well, charging more power over his arms. “Ice and fire don't mix.”

Tripwire retracted his whips and braced as well. “We'll have to be ready for the survivors, Cadis. Stay sharp.”

She cocked her rifle and aimed up. “Copy!”

Deepfreeze suddenly wrenched back and unloaded skyward. A wide-spread volley of iceblasts screamed up into the air... and started to slam into each other in a building matrix of spreading ice through the air, starting to fall just ahead of the hornets still diving down en masse.

“Freeeeeze?” Inferno asked in building concern.

“Not yet!” the squad leader retorted sharply, still firing off blasts to enlarge the ice mass.

Tripwire and Overload stared up anxiously as well.

“That's getting really close, Deep, come on!”

Deepfreeze kept firing up into the building, glacial mass, and then suddenly roared, “MARK!”

The cannons around HQ died instantly, and Inferno wrenched his arms up, a roar of flame rocketing upward and slammed into the crystal formation.

At first it seemed it wasn't working. The flames hit, and started to burst around the whole formation, that was still crashing down like a falling meteor. But Inferno kept up his blast, and held it long, powerful, and true.

The glacier cracked once... and then exploded with catastrophic force!

A ring-wave of frosted dust burst out across the city as chunks of ice burst skyward away from the incinerating heat of Inferno's blast.

Raw force and ice shrapnel gutted the swarm in a massive wave of impacts and shimmering temperature wars.

Inferno, Deepfreeze, Overload, and Tripwire had to quickly start diving, rolling, and dodging around chunks of ice that survived to land, but Cadis, down on the wall further from their position, was already starting to lance some of the surviving hornets with her rifle.

“Need turret support now!” she added urgently.

“Listen to her!” Deepfreeze confirmed sharply on the comms.

//Cannons reactivating!// Dex's voice heralded the cannons snapping back to life and singing with blasts of plasma energy up into the residual swarm.

The Hunters on the roof joined Cadis' effort, firing off blasts and rushes of their weapons to take out clusters and smaller swarms of hornets.

Signas stepped out onto the roof a moment later, and then braced back with his sword held at an angle. “And here I thought you might need a hand, Deepfreeze.”

He then lunged and snapped his arm around.

The other Hunters watched as his purple energy blade spin-sawed up into the sky, tearing through dozens of hornets before it could arc back around and be neatly caught in Signas' waiting hand.

He then joined them in picking off the handfuls they kept diving.

Cadis took a breath, and comm'd, //Rooftop under control, we're cleaning up.//

* * *

Zero grimaced in the gravity storm, trying to push himself up with his sword, Colonel still prone down on his right. Zero's optics widened, however, as he spotted X finally. ...Just as X was raging and diving into Beetle with completely unnatural speed. _...That's not the Reploid I had to save from Vile..._

Beetle was caught unawares by the body-slam. He crashed back with X, but the two quickly fell into a martial battle, fists slamming into arms, knees into torso plating, all with raging energies of gravity and time warping the world around them amidst bolts of plasma and swarming insect mechaniloids.

“EEEE-NOUGH!” Gravity Beetle suddenly roared, body-grabbing X, and hurling him off to one side.

X corrected mid-flight, flipping over himself, but looked back to see Beetle churning with his own purple-green energies.

Beetle suddenly snapped one hand upward, and an orb of power ripped out of his palm. It rocketed skyward, halted a few dozen meters up, and then erupted into a massive sphere of power... that started to pull _everything_ up toward it.

In a horrible frozen moment, everyone snapped from being crushed down, to uncontrollable flight upward. Even the mechaniloid hornets were halted awkwardly. It was almost like a torrent catching debris underwater and suddenly wrenching it another direction.

X couldn't hit the ground, his hands swept just over the surface, and his optics locked back on Beetle.

“The force that orders the cosmos itself!” Beetle roared over the thunderous rush of energies and force. “It comes for YOU, Maverick Hunters!”

X gawked. The cosmos...

“I'm a damn fool!”

X suddenly wrenched his arms out, power churning over his body as his colors flipped. The photo blaster from Neon Tiger. Light.

A true black hole might capture light, but they could all still see, which meant these gravity waves were nowhere near the same strength. Light could still fight this.

X snapped his busters forward, and fired. They configured into a single cannon, and unleashed a micro-construct orb out across the field. It nearly hit Gravity Beetle, but that wasn't the target.

The next second, the orb started unleashing bolts of high-power light beams in every direction, like a meteor shower flying outward.

Beetle roared in frustration, then paused a moment. “What? ...NO!”

The hornets.

The photon-blasts were raking through the omnipresent swarm and tearing out swathes of it in every direction at once.

And X was firing more of them. Photo-launchers flew out in every direction, and continued tracking and firing in every direction, ripping the hornets to shreds.

This bought time. The other Hunters could fire off grapples, grab comrades, stab into more solid objects, and finally stop themselves from flying upward toward crushing death, without hornets constantly tearing into their armored bodies.

Beetle was twisting around, furious, roaring at the defeat of his trap even as it was still working for him.

“Beetle!”

His optics snapped to one side as Quickman came flickering across the gap, cutter in hand, already swiping.

Gravity Beetle started to jerk himself backward, but the cutter sliced off his horn-stalk above his head... which left Quickman floating free and starting to rise up toward the gravity well above.

“A waste for a suicide strike!” Beetle taunted the Hunter viciously.

Quickman fell back into character for a moment, finger-gunning with both hands. “Made ya look!”

Gravity Beetle's optics widened, and he suddenly twisted--!

For X's blaster to aim right into his face, and unleashed a full photon-blast barrage directly from the buster core. Beetle could just see the furious focus in X's eyes before the energies tore through his optics.

Gravity Beetle's upper frame blew apart in a wave of rushing photon blasts, and crashed down... as with everything else, as the gravity well in the sky winked out of existence without Beetle to power it.

Quickman dropped down to his haunches, much more grim now, not acting anymore. He watched X slowly lower his arm, taking a respirator cycle.

Wreckage and falling Reploids chorused across the airstrip for a few seconds, but thankfully no one was critically wounded... though a few were close.

Zero sheathed his blade finally, and offered a hand to Colonel. “Make sure your sister knows you're alright.” His voice was grim, but sincere.

Colonel nodded a bit as he took the hand up in that exhausting moment. “Already done, sir. That was...”

“Awful,” Zero admitted bluntly, looking out toward X and Quickman in the distance again.

“...It seems X is as powerful as I've heard, however,” Colonel added seriously once fully upright.

Zero nodded subtly, watching X and Quickman check over Gravity Beetle's inactive frame. “Understand the stakes of our work now, Colonel?”

“...Yes, sir.”


	4. Metal and Pressure

A holoscreen showing the cleared airfield, a long view of the jungle base, and a fairly distant view of the Maverick Hunter HQ simply winked off in an otherwise dimly lit lab and office space. Dr. Doppler stroked his beard slowly, clenching the long tip into his fist for a moment of narrow-eye thought.

“He's not falling for it.” He exhaled slowly, and touched another control on his desk. “Bit, Byte, to me.”

In short order, the large gate to his lab opened, and two new Reploids entered. One was fairly standard size, near X's own frame scale, but the other was a towering hulk of a machine, with a hefty belly of plating.

The smaller one stepped further out, and went into a military at-ease stance. A visor optic over a simple mouth plate focused on Doppler. “We finally deploying, Doctor?”

Doppler nodded, though he remained grim. “Yes. We need to push X harder. Keep monitoring the armor capsule locations, but you need to go on the offensive. Blindsiding should be the most effective. Perhaps while he goes for the other Mavericks they're aware of?”

The larger one's voice rumbled, “We'll take care of him, Doc. We were built for this.”

Doppler tilted his head down. “We all were. Now go.”

After the pair filed out without ceremony, Doppler seemed to fall into a pensive mood. However, he soon glanced to his side sharply. “...It's too early for you.”

A familiar glint of a T-shaped visor came from the shadows. “I've been waiting long enough, Doctor. X owes me a head.”

Doppler frowned further. “If you act out of turn, I'll put you right back in that junkpile I found you in.”

The T-shape eased back further into the darkness. “Only if you can catch me, Doctor...”

And the presence was gone.

Doppler punched his desk, grimacing.

* * *

X, Quickman, and Alia stood in the X-Hunter bunker. Data for Neon Tiger and Gravity Beetle was visible on the console system Quickman was leaning on as they spoke.

“I appreciate the opening for input, but this is... messy, X,” Quickman started.

Alia shrugged. “Maybe not so bad. I think I can set things up so Dex discovers the 'simpler' infection in the system buffer. I may have to doctor the data storage records so eyes don't fall so fully on X, though.”

X tipped his head. “That would be amazing, if possible. If it's cleaner for me to just get some more focus while pushing Cain the right direction, though, let me know. It's really just a question of how we want to handle Beetle now. Or rather,” he glanced to Quickman, “how _you_ want to handle him...”

Quickman looked down again, a frown to his facial plating. “I don't know which is worse. Him knowing I was hiding from him despite being free of the infection, or hiding from him again so his decision isn't influenced by it.”

Alia pouted somewhat, sympathetic. “...Speaking only from my own experience, I'd err on the side of telling him, Quick...”

X glanced down at the reminder of all Alia had to deal with because of being kept out of the loop. Yet it was necessary overall. He slowly looked back up to Quickman.

Quickman finally nodded. “Yeah... yeah. I'll talk to him, X.”

X tipped his head, and gestured to an uplink connector on the one end of the console before easing off into the central space of the bunker. Alia wasn't far behind him.

* * *

In the virtual space, Gravity Beetle startled conscious, and quickly focused on Quickman.

“What is this?”

“A kind of limbo for us infected,” Quickman chose to start, gesturing to either side. “And to get it out of the way...” He shifted his digital appearance... once again appearing as Boom Kuwanger.

Beetle's optics flared, and he was stunned silent.

“I'm sorry, Beetle. It's an intel issue. We have to control information the enemy has potential access to.” Kuwanger exhaled heavily, and refocused. “X would never have fully killed you, but you and me talking like this is a favor to me. Any anger is justified, but we never have time anymore. Do you want to move forward as Gravity Beetle, and face those consequences free of the Doppler infection, or do you want to go undercover with me?”

Beetle abruptly stepped closer, moving right up to Kuwanger's face, the two locking optics. “You know? That it's not the same infection?”

Kuwanger nodded. “We do. The Doppler version is probably just a distraction, but we can't be sure from what. Not yet, anyway. So...?”

Beetle eased somewhat, and looked down. “...I'm glad you're alive.”

Kuwanger smiled somewhat. “Likewise...”

“What I did was... I... need to face that. And since the Doppler version can actually be addressed, I can be... isolated from the other sensitive information. Just be a successful recovery case, face whatever investigation they throw.”

Kuwanger felt almost sad... and yet relieved. He cycled his respirator, nodded, and rested a hand on the image of his brother. “Since I can't be so obvious about next time we talk... I love you, brother.”

Beetle just tilted forward, and their foreheads touched before the virtual space winked off.

* * *

Iris stepped into one of the research labs at HQ, glancing around in mild confusion at how dark it was. “...Dex?” she called softly.

One of the active screens off to the side was dimmed briefly. “Over here. Sorry, I didn't really think about the lights.”

Iris giggled, and came over to his part of the lab. “Isn't the lighting straining your optics?”

Dex glanced up with a faint smile in his plating. “Not mine, anyway. What brings you by?”

Iris shrugged. “Just checking on you, sir. You've been cooped up in here for over a day!” She was controlling her anxiety about this behavior, and Dex was distracted enough not to notice it.

Dex blinked with a chime, and then looked back down to his screen. “Well! That... uh... would make sense then! I've just been really engrossed in this work. I think I've found something important.”

Iris leaned onto the side of his console, peering at the data. “What is it?”

Dex pointed toward data readouts from Neon Tiger and Gravity Beetle's remains. Iris looked them over, though her own optics paused on the date-updated logs for both with a faint note of confusion before she fully focused on the matter at hand.

“...Wait, this is...” she trailed a bit, her eyes widening. “In Light's name, Dex, this is crucial!”

Dex grinned. “You see it? The Maverick aggression infection is much simpler for these two! We could recover them! Interview them! Actually start getting some answers!”

Iris beamed back. “Well what are you waiting for?”

Dex shrugged. “Verifying my work! I don't want to get Dr. Cain's hopes up!”

Iris giggled. “Dex, you've checked this dozens of times. I can see your log file there. Make a copy and tell him!”

Dex blinked, then shifted shyly, going to make a copy on his screen. “Okayfine.”

Iris giggled again... relieved as much as happy for him.

* * *

Cadis blinked as she stepped out of the armory from stowing her rifle after her daily practice. Zero was right there, clearly staring at her. Managing a blush, she quickly saluted.

Zero returned it, and then showed a casual smile. “You were impressive during the giant mess of hornets, Cadis. You've got a lot of promise.”

Cadis smiled happily at the recognition. “O-oh, thank you! Sir!” she quickly added. “J-just doing my job!”

Zero rolled a hand. “More than that. I'd like to talk to you about a new position option. Could we go discuss it more privately?”

Cadis tilted her head in gentle confusion. “Uh... sure? I-I mean, yes, sir!”

Zero half-smiled, and gestured before starting to lead on. “Thank you.”

* * *

“First, thank you for your time,” Zero started with a half-smile as he stepped around to sit on the opposite side of a small holotable.

Cadis shrugged gently, already seated. “No trouble, sir. ...There a reason the room is so dark, though?”

Zero chuckled, and tapped one control on the small table, the space illuminating more normally. “Habit.” He leaned onto his elbows, tilting his head. “Have you noticed anything concerning within the organization, Cadis?”

She blinked, her optics widening at the abrupt jump into the presumed purpose of their talk. “W-within the Maverick Hunters?”

Zero tipped his head.

“I... don't believe so...?” She angled her head, uncertain, troubled. “Is there something specific under investigation? I'll be happy to cooperate if I mishandled something...?”

Zero half-smiled, a bit wan this time, but sincerely so. “You're very forthright, Cadis. That's the main reason I'm talking to you. It's also not a trick question. Nothing has troubled you?”

Cadis blinked a few times, clearly not sure of Zero's approach, but she then nodded. “That's correct, sir. I haven't noticed anything that worried me above and beyond normal operations.”

“So normal operations do worry you?”

Cadis winced a bit. Was she being maneuvered into something? “I just... worry for my comrades, sir. It's dangerous work, but we all believe in it. Just... doesn't mean I stop worrying.”

Zero tipped his head again. “Good point. Who do you usually worry about?”

Cadis started to pout somewhat. “I... I take great care to do my best for everyone I work with, sir. I specifically avoid showing favoritism in that. It would get someone hurt...”

Zero exhaled slowly, bowing his head. “I'm clearly triggering your defenses. I'll be clearer. Cadis, you are not under investigation.” He looked into her optics afresh. “I am concerned that there are elements within the Hunters that are... controlling intel for their own purposes, and they're hiding what those purposes are. That makes _me_ worry.”

Cadis did calm, to a more grim concern. “You believe there are Mavericks within the Hunters?”

Zero shrugged. “Every Maverick after the first wave so far has been a Hunter. It's why we need transparency, so patterns can be seen and acted upon naturally. You agree with that much, I imagine?”

Cadis fidgeted her fingers slowly together. “I do... yes.”

“And would you like to help me, as part of a focused team, to root out anyone that's obfuscating things and making it harder to maintain that?”

Cadis angled her head a little away from Zero. She couldn't avoid feeling gravely suspicious of what was going on, beyond just the troubling topic itself. “...I don't feel I'm informed enough to answer that, yet, sir.”

Zero raised an eyebrow, his own head tilting. “Interesting choice of words. Alright, let's be fully direct then. Maverick Hunter X is surrounded by troubling gaps of information. It's been the case for months.”

Cadis' shoulders sank slowly as realization melted over her like cold water.

“It's no secret that you and X get along well, but you also don't seem to be tied to any of the more troubling elements of his behavior. I'd like to offer you a chance to help your friend clear his name fully.”

Cadis slowly closed her hands into fists. Zero noticed it, but his eyes just returned to her face.

Now she was conflicted. X had saved her life from Wire Sponge. They'd now fought together. He was the very reason—her inspiration—for her joining the Hunters herself. Yet, she couldn't deny that X was... very private. That was how she'd viewed it before Zero's very directed questions. Private. Kept to himself. But that did leave a lot of room for troubling behavior that she'd never see.

But would he actually do such things?

Cadis straightened her back, and met Zero's eyes squarely. Privately, Zero was impressed with the steel that formed in her manner in that moment.

“I must decline, sir. I will not spy on my friend. I either trust him, or he's not my friend. I can't be both.”

Zero frowned thoughtfully, but didn't snap in frustration or show anger. Instead, he squinted, angling his head again. “And you are sure you can trust him?”

Cadis remained steady. “Do you know how X and I met, sir? I assume it was in a report at the time, due to the circumstances.”

Zero tightened his eyes, but then nodded.

Cadis continued, “The Reploid that saved my life, and fought Wire Sponge that day, would never do something to endanger people if he could avoid it.” Her optics watered, which made Zero ease back fractionally. “His body was torn open. He nearly died. And he never hesitated. He dove _into_ an attack aimed at me when he was already hurt very badly. And it nearly cost him the battle. So no... sir... I will not spy on him. You can take whatever disciplinary actions you deem appropriate against me, but I will not do that.”

Zero softened his expression to careful scrutiny, then slowly nodded. “You're not under suspicion, Cadis. There will be no disciplinary action. You declined an offer, nothing more, nothing less. Though I'll say it's good to know where you stand.”

Cadis' optics tightened at the implied danger of those last words. “All an honest Reploid can do is know where she stands.”

Zero tipped his head. “I like that phrasing. Dismissed, Cadis. Thank you for your time.”

She quickly stood and departed the room, leaving a pensive Zero, who shut off the lights for himself.

* * *

Dr. Cain looked up from his holoscreens as X and Zero came walking into his office. “Ah, there you both are, excellent! Plenty of updates. Mostly bad. One very good!”

X chuckled a bit despite everything, and Zero just rolled his eyes a little. It was perhaps noticeable that the two barely looked at each other.

“The council that the various governments have put together since the whole Maverick mess started is determined to move forward with the Reploid Army concept,” Dr. Cain began grimly.

Zero pinched the bridge of his nose, but X's eyes widened.

“Why would they do that with all of the data indicating that would only make things worse!?”

Dr. Cain groaned, rubbing at his brow, nodding. “The exact data I was trying to make plain to them. The Maverick virus is scaring them too much. They want a large, powerful force that can respond to flare-ups like Doppler Town. The timing didn't help our case.”

X's fists clenched, but he slowly nodded. “...What else?”

Zero folded his arms, similarly waiting to hear.

Dr. Cain adjusted a control, and a larger holoscreen appeared between the three of them. “Dex confirmed remarkable findings. The Dopplerforce Mavericks are suffering from a completely different infection. Simpler, though still advanced, and there is actual potential for treatment.”

Zero rubbed at his chin as he looked over the data from Dex's lab study. “So rip out the system buffer, and they should be right as rain?”

“And a proper anti-virus could be formulated for the Doppler-variant!” Dr. Cain added with clear cheer.

X smiled gently. It was good to see life vibrant in the doctor's eyes again. The Maverick war weighed on Cain so heavily, some chance of a solution, even just partial, was immense. “We might be able to actually save these Mavericks, so long as we can subdue them, then?”

Zero sideglanced X, then just chuckled, and looked back to Dr. Cain.

“Exactly!” Dr. Cain declared with enthusiasm suited to a child on their birthday. He hopped up, quickly yanking his cane with him. “And moreover, we have two test cases ready!”

Zero blinked. “Huh?”

X showed a surprised expression, gently puzzled.

“The analyst lab confirmed that Neon Tiger and Gravity Beetle's personality chips survived the battles! There was apparently some tool errors that missed them on the initial quickscans.” Dr. Cain passed over that oddity quickly for all his eagerness. “For safety we'll have to keep them in custody, but we may have two Reploids back from the oblivion of the infection for the first time!”

X gave a big smile. “Now that is really wonderful news.”

Zero was astonished, and quickly glanced between the two. “H-how did the initial scans miss the core program chips?”

X shrugged. “That is a concern, though. Maybe have Iris double-check the processes, make sure nothing's gotten glitchy?”

Dr. Cain and Zero paused faintly, for similar reasons. X wasn't maneuvering Alia into the job. Or appealing to have Signas review the situation first.

Dr. Cain was the first to recover. “I think that's a good idea! Zero?”

Zero was still caught, eyeing X with a controlled degree of suspicion mingled in with the mild shock. “Y-yes, Dr. Cain. I'm sure she'd be happy to.”

X gave a casual thumbs-up. “Should be back to proper standards in no time then. Anything else, Dr. Cain?”

Zero was still squinting a bit, but knew trying to poke on such a vague topic would just antagonize both X and Dr. Cain. The human seemed delighted that such a non-combative exchange was happening with X.

“That's the big news for now, yes! Wanted to tell you both in person! I'll be getting to work on a Doppler-variant anti-virus immediately, of course.”

X and Zero, both more serious, saluted.

“Will be a great windfall, Doctor,” X added with a little smile.

Zero nodded. “Should turn the tide on this outbreak, certainly.”

Dr. Cain smiled, nodded, and started back to his desk.

Zero and X departed the office without incident, though Zero did pause just outside long enough for X to look back to him, showing light curiosity.

“Why didn't you recommend Alia?” He had to. He needed to see how X would respond to the straight-up question.

X blinked, then laughed lightly. “Alia's swamped! And she was telling me how amazing Iris is! We need as many reliable operators as we can get, no reason not to use the talent!” He shrugged, and started off, physically assuming that was the end of it.

Zero watched him go, jaw shunted. “...Fair enough.” Though X was already out of audio-receptor range.

* * *

X stepped out onto Maverick Hunter HQ's roof awkwardly, peering around. He finally spotted Cadis leaning on the safety rail on one side, and he moved toward her more directly. “What's wrong, Cadis? Your message was... oddly cryptic.”

Cadis looked back to him over her shoulder with a tired smile. “Yeah, sorry. I'm not really up for this kind of stuff. I wanted to … warn you? I guess? But I knew being super obvious about it would be a bad idea.”

X raised an eyebrow, and leaned onto the rail to her left, watching her face with concern. “Go on...?”

Cadis bowed her head. “Zero took me aside privately. Asked me if I'd join a team that's basically doing internal-affairs work on the Hunters. It became pretty clear you're the focus of that digging.”

X was sincerely surprised at how Cadis was handling this. “...Are you alright?”

Cadis blinked, and looked up to his face in mild bewilderment. Then she huffed into a weak laugh that was so close to a sob, and she buried her face in one hand. “No. I'm not.”

X risked lifting a hand, resting it on her shoulder plates for a moment. She slowly smiled up at him, but looked desperately tired.

“You haven't asked what my answer was,” she chose to point out quietly.

X shrugged softly. “I have no reason to stop you from doing what you believe to be right, one way or the other. I just also know how kind you are, and I don't like seeing kind people hurt.” He half-smiled, wan and entirely sincere.

Cadis' optics watered intensely, and she choked down and away from X, then forced her throat clear. “...I refused to join, because I can't spy on someone and say I'm their friend at the same time. I either trust you or I don't.”

X's expression fell in empathetic pain, and he stroked her shoulder softly again. “...You're a very sincere person, Cadis.”

Cadis looked up into his eyes again, intensity as much as anguish etching through her features. “Should I trust you?” It was a pained, rushing whisper of a question.

X's expression became sorrowful. “...I keep a lot to myself, Cadis. I can't be sure all of it is something you'd be okay with. I _believe_ we can trust each other on the parts that matter most, but I don't want to presume your trust, either.”

Cadis swallowed, eyes clenching, but then she just bowed her head... and nodded softly. “...Can you promise me that your private stuff isn't hurting people?”

X tipped his head softly. “I promise you that everything I do that seriously is for the sake of saving lives. And not at the expense of others.”

Cadis brought a hand to her chest, and cycled her respirator. “...That'll do then.” She eased back, straighter, and showed him a wan smile again. “Sorry for being cryptic.”

X chuckled. “I'm the last person that can give someone guff for that.”

She laughed. It was enough humor on the topic that it cracked her pained mess of emotions open and let her laugh again. “...I never forget what you did for me.”

X blinked, and bowed his head to try and catch her optics with his own. “You saved me, too, that day. Don't forget that either.”

She blinked back, then thought for a beat, then chuckled softly. “...I won't.”

“...Thank you. For being such a kind friend.”

“You, too, X.”

* * *

Mechaniloids opened fire with volleys of missiles and ore-blasts all around the junkyard and manufacturing depot that Blast Hornet had secured as his headquarters. Bipedal missile-turrets were keeping the bulk of Maverick Hunter forces at bay, supported by a few hopping cannoneer mechaniloids.

The maverick defense line blew apart at one critical point from lines of fire raining down. Blast Squirrel swept down, just ending his strafing run, and let Pyrostrike and Mapteron drop down from his legs.

Mapteron tore through a few more mechaniloids with magnetized pincers, while Pyrostrike melted through a few other with rapid-fire punches.

“By all accounts,” Pyrostrike started, quickly panning his optic-visor around, “Hornet's forces seem crippled. I think that ambush attempt used more of their resources than they'd prefer to admit.”

Mapteron straightened, his pincers retracting into his arms and reappearing on the end of his thorax. “I still detect plenty of raw materials just in the warehouse ahead, this is too ea--!?”

The trio snapped weapons forward even as more Hunters came charging up to support them.

Mechaniloids came raining down from running leaps off the top of the warehouse.

“ _That's_ what I was looking for!” Mapteron affirmed, bracing for combat again.

It wound up being unnecessary.

The left side of the falling force flew apart around a few lashing flashes of plasma, and Colonel flipped down to his haunches as the mechaniloids flew apart in a shower of fiery parts.

The right side witnessed Zero tornado-drilling with his blade down through the mechaniloids, ending in a smooth roll-to-crouch his his sword and ponytail lashing out for a bit of final momentum.

“Squad 00 reporting to the field,” Zero announced calmly, aloud and on comms. “Let's push through, secure this warehouse!”

Pyrostrike gave a shout of support with everyone else, but keyed into the X-Hunter line. //X, we're pushing hard thanks to Zero. You sure you want to keep to the plan?//

Alia's voice replied first, //Not much choice at this point. Zero's not going to slow down with a concrete target to hit.//

//Like she said. It's messy, but I'll take the brunt of the risk. Proceeding!// X affirmed.

* * *

The next moment, a blue teleport flash splashed down much deeper into the fabrication area of the campus. Squads of mechaniloids snapped toward the motion as X poured out of the discharge, his colors flashing golden as his busters formed into photo-dispersion arrays. Ray-Splasher pulse-blasts started to fill the area as X stepped, spun, and strafed.

The abruptness of the arrival and attack allowed X to shatter the first few ranks of enemy forces before much of a return volley could happen, but that only lasted a few seconds.

Quickly, X was on the defensive from swarms of missile strikes. He flipped, twisted, coiled, and slid between constant rushes, rarely touching the ground for more than a beat or with more than one limb.

Tuning his sensors to high levels of detail, he switched back to his standard colors and his busters started to snap off bolts of plasma in staccato patterns that were starting to chip through mechaniloid armor at a decent clip for how widely his fire had to be spread with all the dodging.

“Isolating yourself! How helpful!”

X's optics widened for a split-second as he faced the ground, and he jerk-twisted himself harder.

The timeless moment let him watch Blast Hornet ripping down through the air he'd just occupied with a massive, glinting stinger from the bulbous storage-unit of a thorax under the Maverick's legs and wings.

Hornet hit hard enough to drive his stinger into the cement and shatter a crater down into it. The impact force sent X crashing away, and swarms of missiles started to redirect after him like veering snakes.

Hornet wing-blasted himself up without issue, the surprisingly tall, agile maverick rushing for X with murderous focus in his optics.

X twisted into a series of backflips to avoid the rippling destruction of the missile barrage. He landed with spread feet, trying to charge energy into his busters while locking onto Hornet, but the maverick was already hurtling at full speed.

With mist blast-venting out of his faceplate, flanks, and legs, Hornet shoulder-rammed X like a freight-train. A force-wave of impact sent dusting pulsing out before X was rammed through the wall of the next warehouse back, the cement exploding out from his smaller frame.

“Finally get to watch you DIE!” Blast Hornet roared as he snapped around, aiming his stinger down at X, wrenching it down at the hunter's core.

X violently twist-rolled himself just to the side of the stinger, and let the impact force toss him skyward just before his boots thruster-blasted him into a side-spin. It allowed him to ram his left knee straight into Hornet's back between the wings with rocket-like impact force.

Hornet shouted, flying out of the warehouse wall.

A shock-rush resounded, and Hornet's optics flared before he wing-wrenched himself out of the path of a charged buster-shot. It flew on to churn through a few ranks of mechaniloids. Hornet was only just facing X again when the second shot came flying at him, X leaping out of the destroyed wall after it.

“FINE! Overwhelming force it is!” Hornet shouted back as he twisted out of the path of the second blast, and then snapped his arms out.

His stinger retracted, and his thorax spat out a swarm of hornet-drones that suddenly ripped down toward X at the same time as the mechaniloids around the field unleashing a fresh volley of seeker-missiles on all sides.

X's optics widened, and he had to thruster-charge into a folding slide so he could move fast enough to slip under the explosives and stinging drones for enough of a moment to react. //Blast Hornet's body is a manufacturing plant unto itself! He can make his own swarms! All Hunters be advised!//

* * *

Zero's eyes snapped toward the center of the campus. “What the hell is he—! UGH! Colonel! Pyrostrike! You and your squad with me! X needs backup!”

He was already thruster-rushing ahead, his saber snapping and wrenching through crates and blockades to leave a glowing, molten trail for his team to follow.

Colonel was hot on his heels, with Pyrostrike, Blast Squirrel, and Mapteron chasing rapidly.

* * *

Warp Turtle sighed heavily, adjusting controls at a rapid pace belying his blase expression. “If they hadn't charged off half-cocked to finish off Hornet's base, I could have supplied my ride-armor prototype.”

Cadis looked to him abruptly from a sensor-station she was watching on the same airship, just at the perimeter of Blast Hornet's facility. “Ride-armor...?”

Warp Turtle nodded, then sent over some refined targeting data, which Cadis used to have the ship's guns blast apart a good chunk of the defense perimeter of the facility below. “Have it on the ship even, but Zero was in such a rush, and that made X rush, and that made everybody rush. No one appreciates that when you're in your greatest rush, you must take your t--!?”

“Where is it? I'll use it!” Cadis didn't seem to intentionally cut him off. Her optics were blazing at the targeting console while she directed a few more volleys down to support the Hunters on ground level.

Warp Turtle blinked. “...Bay 4.”

Cadis linked her controls back to his interface, and started to sprint around him. “Can it survive a drop from this height?”

“Yes! Just make sure to watch out for the arms! They're designed to tear anything apart!”

“Got it!” she called back from the hallway feeding off the bridge.

Airstrike glanced back from his command post, then to Warp Turtle. “Guess you'll get your field test?”

Warp Turtle smiled.

* * *

X rolled back through the air like a mad ball of metal as swarms of mechaniloids criss-crossed, exploded, and dove at him from all angles. Unfolding as his colors and busters snapped to Ray-Splasher again, he send photon-bolts scattering in every direction, but only barely bought himself time to land on his feet.

Forced to immediately stumble-dive away from a blitz-dive by Blast Hornet, X rolled back to his feet, twisted, and started to suck energy into his frame as his sensors nearly made his head want to cave in from system stress.

An upward sweep of hornets made him back-flip-chain away again, and Hornet was on top of him as fast. X desperately snapped his arms out, flaring a charged Rolling Shield over his frame. Blast Hornet was deflected off to one side, churning through a wall with thorax and one leg, while the closest wave of mechaniloids exploded against the shield.

Trying to gain momentum on the battle, X rapidly switched through weapons, firing off magnetic mines, crystal shots, shotgun blasts of ice, electrical surges, but none of them could actually clear the swarm faster than Blast Hornet could spray more of the things out additional to the masses pouring on from all the warehouses and factories in the complex.

Finally one hornet clipped his right arm, unbalancing his motion, and this let Blast Hornet himself nearly direct-ram him again. The shoulder check from the maverick wasn't fully center-mass, but it was enough to send X hurtling back through one of the swarms, his armor battered, scraped, and a couple of gaps actually tore open on his Light-crafted frame near his spine.

X grimaced, his systems blazing alerts to him. _Only idea I have is so dangerous..._

Zero's impromptu squad was closing fast, and something was dropping out of Airstrike's ship like a rocket. If he started firing off truly devastating weaponry, any of them could get caught in the destruction.

Forced to, X leapt, dodged, dove, rolling, and dash-boosted himself through swarming rushes and just out of Blast Hornet's next barrage of attacks, all the while, starting to charge more power in his frame.

And then a green buzzsaw of plasma light torn a gap through the swarm, Zero unfolding to a graceful, sliding exit from the molten hole he made in the hornets. He rose up, sword sweeping, arcing, and inverting in masterful, fluid strikes, his optics focused and sharp as the weapon itself.

Colonel ripped through further to one side, powerful swipes of his energy blade ripping apart groups at a time. This combined with gouts of flame from Pyrostrike, waves of magnet-mines from Mapteron, and a few quick strafing bomb-runs by Blast Squirrel.

X could breathe. He skidded back near Zero, firing a double charge-blast outward. The blossoming plasma explosions tore chunks out of the swarm filling the air. “Thanks for the assist!” he had to say almost lightly over the din of battle.

Zero twisted, single-slashing to wipe out twelve different hornets. “Move with the team next time, and you won't need it!” The retort came with a dark stare over his shoulder at X.

X lifted a buster apologetically. He couldn't really argue it in this case.

And then a crashing thud shook the terrain at their feet, but they couldn't estimate what it was before Blast Hornet dive bombed into the center of their quick formation.

The ground-smash from Blast Hornet itself didn't unsettle the six Hunters—they were already aiming for him—but the explosive onslaught of dozens more mechaniloids that poured out of the maverick the next second had them stumbling away and scrambling just to avoid being overwhelmed or torn apart.

“How in Light's name does he build them that fast!?” Blast Squirrel had to shout.

X heard it even as he tried to blast hornets away. Crushing, churning metal, and heavy, hydraulic footfalls.

The next second, Cadis appeared! Mounted into a ride-armor clearly designed for front-line combat, she was like a wave-breaker to an ocean.

And the ride-armor's arms were spinning, ramming masses of spikes on hydraulic cylinders. They were erasing swathes of the swarm all around Cadis as she body-checked entire portions of the rest of the mass with the ride-armor's raw bulk.

Blast Hornet twisted around, locking onto the ride-armor. “You're ruining my fun!”

He blasted after her, but Cadis saw it over her armor's shoulder, and roared, ram-twisting around so the right elbow came hammering back.

Hornet's ram and the armor's elbow crashed together with a resounding clang so powerful that the shockwave actually disrupted the rest of the swarm that moment, all of the Hunters gaping for that core-pulse of time.

And Cadis followed-up without hesitation. She twisted the armor at the waist, and brought the left spike-ram churning down at Blast Hornet. Hornet roared, trying to rush away, but she caught his right side, mangling the arm and one wing down into the ground before he could stumble away with a roar of pain and infected fury.

Zero pointed with his saber. “HUNTERS! DROP THAT MAVERICK!”

X hissed, and started to bolt forward. There was now way to be sure Zero or Colonel wouldn't cleave right through Blast Hornet's personality chip with that desperate order.

_I can't fire it close, but... the range might work!_

X's colors snapped to dark shades of purple, and he roared as he rammed one arm forward. A strange orb-device flew out from his buster, hurtling past Blast Hornet, into the heart of the swarm behind him that was resurging to envelope the battle.

The device sparked, snapped, and erupted with distorting force with frame-jarring speed. Raw gravity itself. The weapon adapted from Gravity Beetle's devastating weaponry by Dr. Light's ingenious designs inside X himself.

There was strange pulse throughout the battle. Zero and the others paused abruptly, watching the hornet swarm suddenly halt perfectly mid-air. Blast Hornet himself started to twitch, his grip on the ground slipping back toward his own swarm.

Cadis blinked, and then widened her optics as she saw the wall of mechaniloids suddenly warp, churn, and crush back upon itself with the most awful din of grinding metal and snap-flashing power systems.

And X never stopped. He was dashing full speed, thruster roaring out of the base of his feet. He traded legs with each elongated stride, and reached out, desperately grabbing onto Blast Hornet's chest just before he was swallowed by the crushing storm of metal.

“I'm sorry!” X barked out quickly, and rammed one fist into Hornet's chest, his sensors still maxed out, and found the personality chip, which was already starting to lock itself up in emergency stasis.

X ripped the chip housing out, and finally burst backward to let the frame crush down into the culminated mass of the swarm in the back of the complex's work field.

Other than cycling respirators, an eerie calm settled over the entire facility. Without Blast Hornet to give orders, the mechaniloids were defaulting into passivity.

Zero finally sheathed his saber at his shoulder, and marched over to X. “What the slagpit was that about!?”

X, respirator heaving from his damage and exertion as his sensors only then finally revved down, turned enough to show the recovered chip container. “...Didn't... want him to... die...”

Cadis was astonished, then started to smile gently.

Blast Squirrel, Pyrostrike, and Mapteron just eased, sharing a mild glance, while Colonel frowned at X's independent behavior.

Zero narrowed his eyes, but then just nodded, and twisted around, his ponytail lashing a bit. “All Hunters, secure the compound! If you're greater than 20% damaged, report to medical!” He glanced over to X. “That includes you. Go.”

X tipped his head, and started to move toward the Hunter-held side of the compound as other squads started to pour forward.

X and Cadis shared a little wan smile, but she didn't stop him retreating. Pyrostrike looked over to her afterward, and smirked a bit. “One slagging entrance, I'll give you that, kid.”

Cadis grinned. “I should... probably get this back to Warp Turtle.”

Mapteron chimed, “Just maybe.”


	5. Total Whiteout

//X, this is Depthcharge. Can I have a word?//

X blinked as the X-hunter line carried his comrade's request. He smoothly smiled for Dex, and patted the operations Reploid on the shoulder plating. “This is fantastic, Dex. I was wondering who put Dr. Cain in such a great mood.” Privately, he replied, //Of course, just need a moment to slip away from Dex.//

//Thank you...//

X was caught by how quietly worried Depchcharge sounded, but tried to bury that as Dex's optics grinned back at him.

“I had to check it some many times. I can't believe we missed it before.”

X kept his smile, and shrugged. “All the great insights seem that way, don't they?” Another pat. “Thank you, Dex. You've just saved who-knows-how-many lives.” Then he added a little gestured behind himself. “Just got a ping on my comm. You alright here?”

Dex was chuffed at the praise, then quickly nodded. “Oh, of course! Stay safe out there, X!”

X waved. “You, too!” And hurried out of the lab. //Alright, Depthcharge, where to?//

* * *

Depthcharge wasted no time once X stepped into the small briefing room. As the door shut, the goliath of a Reploid put a jammer on the table, activating it.

X immediately sharpened his attention at the extreme measure.

“I've just discovered something very concerning, and I can't be sure what information is sensitive or not,” Depthcharge explained quickly, gesturing at the little device.

“I gathered. Talk to me, Depthcharge. I'm listening.”

Depthcharge seemed to try to collect his thoughts, and X was always caught how gentle the giant of a bot was outside of combat. He seemed anxious, afraid, not the terrifying destroyer he could become in combat.

After a few seconds, Depthcharge finally lifted his hands. “I've been trying to get in touch with Jessica for several days. At first, I wasn't panicked, because with all the panic over Dopplertown, some civilian lines are drowned out.”

X nodded as he listened, frowning with concern as the name of Depthcharge's human friend was added to the mix. She was Depthcharge's core, his purpose, how he got meaning out of his life.

Depthcharge went on, “But then I checked on her work, and they have a whole team missing. _Inside_ Dopplertown!”

X jerked, his optics flaring. “Wait, what? Why was she in Dopplertown!?”

Depthcharge almost broke apart with guilt and anguish. “She joined workers that laid the groundwork for Dopplertown. The service and way systems, sewers, so on. She... she did it because she wanted to help us. X-Hunters, me, Reploids. She...” he trailed off, and slumped into a seat with a heavy thud.

X's frame sank, and he pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to work through solutions and options. Jessica was one of the rare humans that really engaged with Reploids, treated them as equals, people. And that was in no small part due to Depthcharge's relationship with her. “...Her team's last known location?”

Depthcharge remained deeply tormented as he answered, “The terminal levels of the waterways...”

X groaned. “Light's labcoat...” bled out of his lips, ironically from habit learned among the other Reploids over the last few years. “So she's practically in the enemy dungeon, we just don't know if they know it or not?”

Depthcharge nodded silently, and crunched his hands together to try and manage his anxiety.

X cycled his respirator slowly. “...Keep it quiet, do not be detected doing it, but find her. Confirm her location in any way you can. If you can get me a location, I'll work with the others to create a mission that can get her out.”

Depthcharge jerked, then looked up at X with clear, deep relief. “X, I can't repay this one...”

X shook his head seriously. “We do what we do to save lives. If a team we didn't know about is trapped, we absolutely must help them... but it's not respectful of our people to send them in blind, that's all. Clear?”

Depthcharge nodded sharply, and rose to his feet, clearly doing better with a task upon which to focus.

“I still owe you. To do this right, I might have to go dark for a while.”

X tipped his head. “I'll work something out with Alia and Signas, go on.”

And the larger Reploid bolted out of the room after snatching up his jammer.

X was left with a bowed head, his fists clenching at his sides. “...I tried to get them all out...”

* * *

Zero frowned down at Iris's screen in the command center of HQ. Iris herself finally paused her work on a few other windows, and looked up at him sidelong.

“What's wrong, sir?”

Zero's optics jerked, and he looked down to her. “Depthcharge's medical leave. The timing is just... too much for me to let go.” He narrowed his optics at the screen again.

Iris tipped her head. “I looked into it in detail because of that very thing. Alia submitted it,” she kept her voice low, as the operations Reploid was just across the room, “but all of the paperwork checks out, and the injury reported would be enough to cause difficulties in combat.”

Zero listened attentively, but remained troubled. “Alia's too smooth. Do me a favor, and follow-up on him tomorrow?”

Iris tipped her head, and adjusted something on her interface.

Then the red-alert suddenly flared across the room and HQ comms.

“Maverick Hunter base, this is cryo-engineering perimeter team! A blizzard has just knocked out sensors beyond a few meters from our position! We're in a total whiteout!”

Signas twisted from the front of the room. “Dispatch reinforcing squads immediately! That has to be cover for an assault!”

Dex's hands scrambled over his console. “Deepfreeze and Tripwire's squads are teleporting now!”

Alia, at the main tactical table, quickly streamed orders and adjustments into comms, then looked up to Signas. “Just confirmed! The blizzard hit the entire cryo-engineering area! All teams are effectively blind!”

Zero started for the doors. “Squad 00 will join the support! Signas, we need sonic sensors deployed to those perimeter stations, or they'll never see what hits them!”

Signas nodded to the 'suggestion,' and looked to Dex. “Dex, you heard him. Drop pod deployment, warn each team of danger-close arrival. Their own transponders are our only line to them.”

“Yes, Commander! ...All teams confirmed! Pods launching in five!”

Alia double-checked Dex's efforts simply for safety sake, and tapped into the X-Hunter comms. //X, where are you porting from?//

//Medical. Making sure the setup for Depthcharge holds up a little longer. En route to the cryo-facility!//

* * *

Pyrostrike fired off flameblasts into the rushing storm blinding his team at one of the center-most perimeter camps. The channels of steam they created instantly refroze into hail. “Yeah, no good!” he shouted back to Warp Turtle.

Warp Turtle was about to shout back over the wind when Blast Squirrel cut in faster.

“DROP POOOOOD!”

And then the piercing whistle of a highspeed object reached their receptors. The three, along with Mapteron and a handful of other Hunters braced down just before a large machine slammed down just behind their line, shattering the terrain, then stamping down stabilizers from its sides.

As the sides opened up, Mapteron was the first to leap over, pull a staff-like thing from the pod, and immediately jam it down into the ground as the top opened out into a dishlike device.

“Sonic mapping initialized!”

It was rough with only one pylon active, but the sonic imaging allowed the Hunters to overlay their optics and look out again.

Pyrostrike exclaimed and jerked down to a crouch immediately after.

“Just in time! Mechaniloid attack!”

Though it was difficult to tell the exact models with the gold-gray colored sonic imaging, it was clear that a full battle-line was charging toward their camp, some projectiles, moving like missiles, already in the air.

Warp Turtle snapped his hands up, energy warping along his forearms before a billowing mass of the distorted air erupted off his claws and into the air ahead of the camp. The projectiles, only just truly visible, slowed to near-halting. “Blast!”

Blast Squirrel wrenched up his tail-cannon and blew the missiles out of the air in a high-arc wave.

And then the comms erupted with confirmations from the other teams. The sonic sensors had arrived barely in time.

Warp Turtle looked back. “Get more pylons up! We need proper imaging or we'll be overrun!”

Pyrostrike dive-rolled to join Mapteron. “On it!”

Signas' voice soon echoed on the comms, “All Maverick Hunter squads! Raise defense systems if you have them, and get the sonic pylons up! You need at least three for reliable targeting positions! You are under active assault, whether you realize it or not, get the pylons up now!”

* * *

Airstrike and Inferno unleashed air and fire blasts in wide, spreading patterns to keep the harshest edge of the blizzard at bay, while Deepfreeze and Overload charged toward the first perimeter base they could reach.

“Perimeter team seven, status?” Deepfreeze shouted into the comms. His optics were distinctly sensitive to subtle temperature variances in cold environments, but even he couldn't see active Reploids ahead. He hoped that was just because the air was that cold...

“He—AGH!” the comm crackled and burst with mechanical sounds and echoes of the weapon fire Deepfreeze's squad could hear themselves.

“Damn! Move it, squad, we're out of time!”

Leading a full charge now, Deepfreeze and his comrades burst over a line of consoles the perimeter team had been using, sending ice-blasts (mostly for kinetic impact), fire, air, and electrical surges into the mechaniloids that had overwhelmed the team there.

Landing from his charge-leap, Deepfreeze quickly patched into the local HUD updates. “Only have two pylons up! Overload, pylons! Airstrike, Inferno, stabilize the perimeter team, then hold the line with me! I'll buy you all time!”

A quick chorus of affirmations resounded, though Inferno did ask as he ran to the closest Reploid, “Sure you don't want to trade with me, Freeze?”

Deepfreeze leapt on top of the camp's main console and defense wall, cryonic energy starting to warp and writhe out his palms from the generators. “I can see enough of them without—Wait, what the--!?”

His optics flared, as did many across the entire perimeter line, as the sonic sensor feed suddenly became clear, deep-reaching, and unified.

“Commander, what just happened? I can see almost to the central facility with sonic data!” Deepfreeze had to confirm.

It was Iris' voice that responded, and it did so on a general Maverick Hunter line. “Cryogenic perimeter teams! We've got the sonic sensors networked and interlaced to give you all data from each other's feeds! Parts of the data are predictive, so please get more pylons up when you can!”

Signas finally chimed in, “You can all thank Iris for working some of the fastest sensor interpretation programming I've ever seen, now get to it!”

Deepfreeze whistled, and started firing ice-spikes out into the mechaniloid waves trying to press out toward this portion of the perimeter. “Kid's talented!”

Overload finished putting up his second pylon, “No kidding. Airstrike, Inferno, how's the team doing?”

The wounded Reploids were groaning or barely conscious, but Inferno gave a thumbs-up back to Overload. “Stable and recovering!”

Airstrike nodded, and leapt up to Deepfreeze's position, firing off tornado streams from his forearm coils.

The comms continued to light up, but for much more positive reasons as teams regained the ability to coordinate and return fire properly.

* * *

At a different part of the line, Zero and Colonel dashed out from one of the perimeter camps, slashing and blasting through mechaniloids as the team behind them continued to hold and secure.

“Your sister really is a miracle worker! That sonic detection boost just saved lives!”

Colonel smirked as he spin-slashed through a trio of turret-walkers. “Yes, she is, sir!”

They both paused, hearing a strange sound inside the blizzard. The sonic sensor field caught something, but it was fast enough to blur and smear through the sonic detection.

It was enough to let Zero and Colonel flicker into spins, their sabres slashing down through the projectile.

It was partially just ice, Zero's blade snapping off the spike's bulk before Colonel's blade tore down into some kind of small jet engine.

Yet when the destroyed projectile crashed down, it burst, sending lancing spikes of ice out in every direction. Zero and Colonel shouted as they jerked away into quick rolls and flips, Zero crossing his optics to focus on the tip of one particular spike that nearly impaled his head.

“This is Zero, all Hunters be advised! Ice-based missiles are incoming, and they explode into ice-shrapnel even if you disable them. Do NOT allow close-area impact!” He sliced off the spike at his face smoothly, rising to his feet as he issued the comm-warning.

Colonel frowned as he rose up. “That is a particularly advanced weapon system.”

Before Zero could really comment, they both heard a roaring rush. A chorus of the same thrusters. A volley was incoming, and likely going out in all directions.

“INCOMING!” Zero roared into the comms.

* * *

That moment, a teleport stream pulsed down through the blizzard. Just as the ice-missiles started to rip out toward all the perimeter camps, the teleport stream slammed down into the flash-frozen terrain, bulging out into X, who was already braced down, arms out, with energy pouring over his frame in swirling blue and pink waves of evanescing light.

Patched into the sonic sensors from Iris' work, his own Dr. Light enhanced sensor systems, and with his targeting systems fully devoted to soaking up every bit of information about the missiles, X looked up with grim focus in his optics.

His fists snapped into X-busters, and he suddenly wrenched himself upward with a thruster-blast from his boots, aiming his busters to either side as the missiles came rushing closer.

With a roar from the strain on his systems, especially with how he had to direct the energy surges for his own needs, X fired with fully charged busters.

The raw force of the energy release burst the air and snow apart around him just before the shock-beam of blue-pink energy tore free, right and left. Each beam dwarfed the Reploid, and the ice missiles were flash incinerated as they hit the equivalent of a wall of volatile plasma.

More astonishing still, the massive, air-erasing beams _bent_ as they went outward, curving in to avoid hitting the perimeter line. Before the energies finally spent themselves across the further parts of the cryo-facility's territory, X had effectively protected the entire perimeter line with one massive conflagration of power and light.

* * *

Zero and Colonel stopped, wide-eyed at the raw power unleashed, even as the destroyed missiles rained down and turned into a small forest of spikes and hard edges.

Deepfreeze and company were smiling faintly, while Pyrostrike's team didn't even flinch as they finished mopping up a few mechaniloids that had lingered near their position. Tripwire, Spikesaw, Turbo, and Snapvice were looking up from doing similar at a different camp that had needed support.

“...He hates doing that,” Tripwire muttered to himself.

And Barrel, Quickman, and Shimmer, missing Depthcharge, stepped out from the perimeter camp they'd been supporting. Quickman angled his head down seriously. “That also gives Blizzard Buffalo's forces a nice defense wall of ice. We'll need to approach carefully.”

At HQ, Iris and Dex were mutually stunned at the display of power and precision.

“The calculations needed for that kind of energy manipulation...” Iris had to mutter in disbelief.

* * *

X dash-leapt, flying over the spike-wall of ice that his defense had created unintentionally. Landing to his haunches, he squinted against the blizzard's wind and haze, trying to get his sensors revved up properly. His defense had also created a large barrier for the sonic detection system Iris had just set-up, leaving him more blind than the rest of the Maverick Hunters on the site.

So far, the only thing he could really sense was the one thing he'd sensed from the start of this entire debacle; there was an armor capsule here. It had to be bait, but--

“Well, well, well. You practically gift-wrapped yourself for us, X.”

It wasn't a voice he knew.

X snapped his hands into busters, optics snapping around as he sensors tried to catch up. The voice had echoed and reverberated within the wind blasts, giving him multiple possible sources.

Then Bit tore out of the blistering winds on X's right. The yellow-toned Maverick had one arm forward with the elbow, some kind of crimson energy blade burning off from his wrist, ending in a point past the joint.

This reploid wasn't Overdrive Ostrich or Boom Kuwanger, but he was damn close. X barely folded himself backward in time to dodge the initial stab-dash.

Twisting out to his right, X trained a buster toward Bit. “This really doesn't have to happen! Stand down!”

“Oh, it does.”

A second voice. From right behind him.

X gasped, trying to twist into himself to aim backward with either arm, but a large gray fist slammed down into him from above. He barely made out the crimson and blue plating behind the fist before he crashed down into the frozen ground, skidding out harshly.

Groaning, X sensed that the two had paused. They were leering. He exhaled, the hot mist from his respirator splintering into ice crystals even as it left his lips, and he slowly pushed up to his knees. ...They still leered.

 _So the arrogance is definitely ramped up._ //Alia, can you read me through this?//

//--ely, X... --at do y--... eed?//

//Virus is making a move. Repeat, virus is making a move. Backup appreciated. Backup requested.// He hoped the repeat would get enough message across, because the smaller of the two Mavericks was just leaning into a fresh stab-lunge.

All he could receive from Alia was an urgent cry of his name amid static, so X didn't waste time trying to add more clarity yet. He twist-rolled with abrupt speed to his own right, forcing Bit to slash through the ground instead of his torso.

“Ah-hah, not as slowed as you let on. Thought you were too naive for that!”

X, still down on three limbs, curled one buster up as energy built over his frame, his optics staring hard at Bit. “I get that a lot.”

There he was. The big one was faster than he should be, too, and was rushing around behind X.

By this point, X's sensors had caught up enough for a certain range of clarity around himself, so he was able to twist through, aim up and back, and fire a blast of plasma up at Byte's face before the behemoth could actually smash a fist down into him.

Byte stumbled back with a shout, mostly from shock rather than damage, and X rolled back onto his feet, firing off normal plasma-bolts at Bit to keep him busy.

Bit sliced the bolts apart with either arm, confirming both of his could create the blades. “Not bad! Guess it's worth an introduction after all! I'm Bit!”

“And I'm Byte,” the larger one confirmed.

“And we're here to kill you, X!”

X couldn't stop a mild dryness to his expression. _Getting too old for this nonsense._

But then his optics flared, and he tried to dive away from something behind him. He was not fast enough in this case, and a huge arm swung through, smashing him off into the icy ground.

X coughed from the shock to his respirator, and started to pick himself up. “Felt like a freight hauler...”

Barely visible in the blistering winds, and somehow masked from thermal imaging, the vague outline of Blizzard Buffalo became clearer.

Outnumbered three to one, and not able to underestimate them with his sensors as crippled as they were, X's colors flipped before he fired a buster. Charged rolling shield energy burst up around his frame, and he started to dash-charge toward Blizzard Buffalo's location, all while building more power over his frame.

Something slammed down in front of X, his optics tracking down to a red-gray disc locking itself to the ground. Before his confusion could vocalize, X lurched, shouting in shock as he was magnetically wrenched down toward the disc.

He couldn't catch himself before Byte's fist slammed into the shield toward X's face, straining it instantly.

Bit immediately joined in with a dashing elbow-slash, which tore the shield open and apart.

X strained as he wrenched himself into an awkward mixture of gravity and magnetic force, effectively slinging himself up, over, and down into the ground harder than normal for such a jump. It got him away from Bit and Byte for a core-pulse, and his colors snapped into pale green hues before he started to shimmer out of existence.

Bit and Byte jerked, scanning urgently for X's position, but Blizzard Buffalo growled, stomping to the fore, and snapped his hands out with a panning spin.

A cluster of ice-missiles started to fly out, but they cut their own thrusters. As they all rained down, Buffalo clenched his fists, and instead of forming ice-spikes, the generator pods burst into ice crystals... which coated around X's invisible frame instantly off to Buffalo's right.

“There!” the thunderous voice of the Maverick commander filled the air.

Bit and Byte started to dash for X, who was still stumbling back from the ice powder burst.

 _Agh, I just need a moment to think!_ X couldn't help realizing in frustration even as the two Mavericks came hurtling toward him.

A green energy blade suddenly ripped through the whitening wind, and arced up into Bit's cutting edge with such force that the Maverick was sent back-flipping over himself.

Colonel appeared on the far side, shoulder-checking Byte off his charge-path, forcing the Maverick to stumble into a crouch as Bit crashed to his haunches.

Zero appeared through the biting wind, ponytail writhing with the snow currents, his blade still burning down and out to his right. “This is why you don't charge ahead, X,” he listed out grimly, his optics locked on Bit.

X cycled his respirator. “...Point taken.”

And then Blizzard Buffalo jerked as a wall of ice erupted at his side, forcing him to stumble off his foundation as well.

Deepfreeze crashed down to his haunches on top of the new icewall, optics sharpened down at Buffalo. “You've become a blunt brute.”

Buffalo narrowed his hazed optics. “Who are you to lecture me!?” And he punctuated this with a spin-empowered, ramming punch into Deepfreeze's icewall.

Deepfreeze flipped off as the wall shattered, and crashed to a crouch just off from the Maverick's position. “Alia caught what sounded like a mayday. You alright, X?”

X tipped his head as he rose up, Zero and Colonel facing off against Bit and Byte, with Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo sharing a glare further on from him.

“Looks like I owe her another one.”

Zero twirled his blade. “X, do us all a favor and deal with the damn blizzard, would you? We'll hold here. Got more on the way shortly.”

Bit and Byte started to charge toward X, but Colonel and Zero met them instantly, plasma blades sizzling through the cold air.

X grimaced, but disobeying a very logical order in the situation just because he was afraid of Buffalo getting killed despite emergency stasis seemed... just as dangerous. That settled it. “...Yeah, on it!” And he started to dash-boost off to the side, readjusting his sensors to focus on the wind currents and origin pathing for them.

//Deepfreeze, don't let them kill Buffalo!//

//Kinda my plan already.//

//Heh, just being sure.//

* * *

With the perimeter line finally able to start pressing inward, and Zero, Colonel, and Deepfreeze keeping the main Mavericks distracted, X ripped across layers of frozen access ways and roads while closing on the air current origin his sensors were clarifying more and more with each passing second.

Plasma-bolting down a few mechaniloids that got in his way during a quick dive into an subterrainian section of the complex, he burst out onto the surface level. He jerked, optics locking on a powerful vortex, sharp enough to be more akin to a column of violent air, jetting into the sky out of the center of a large complex of roadways and maintenance paths for the complex itself.

X's brow creased as he looked further beyond, his sensors making it clear that the armor capsule was close by as well. With Bit and Byte occupied, could he grab the capsule? There was so little time...

X burst-dashed, leapt across three different levels of the complex, and as he landed on the top level, car-like mechaniloids came rushing toward him, firing with turrets on their hoods.

With a quick color-snap, X fired off boomerang cutters in different arcs as he dashed to full speed, flickering along while the cutters tore through the mechaniloids. Torn to wreckage and free-rolling tires, they didn't impede the Reploid's advance.

However, as soon as X reached the vortex, his attempt to dive down into the heart of it was repelled violently. The raw wind-force snapped him into a backflip, and he crashed flat with a groan as his upper torso crackled with frozen over particles.

“Guess I need to cut around it,” he muttered to himself, starting to push up while activating Wheel Gator's plasma saw weapon.

As he did, however, his sensors flared the sense of the armor capsule even harder. It was almost like his own sensors were trying to grab his attention. X blinked, and glanced toward the capsule signal origin.

Now, his sensors were giving detailed distance and mapping details for the area immediately surrounding the capsule. An elevated section of the final complex, about a half mile up, with one way in or out. It would be a perfect ambush location, but were Bit and Byte the ambush?

X grimaced, and started to charge up the plasma saws again, but his sensors trilled through his frame like a shock. It was an internal signal, not something someone could fake. His body wanted him to stop and get the capsule first. Urgently so.

X hesitated for a corepulse more, then shifted, boosting into long strides that rocketed him toward the armor capsule. He juked and flipped over several more mechaniloids trying to rush him, but he wasn't slowed.

At last, he leapt across a gap between the two complex segments, crashing into a quick roll onto the level of the armor capsule chamber.

Calming slightly, he stood up, and eased along the short hallway, already able to see the capsule.

The capsule's lights pulsed and brightened, the shielding starting to recede.

* * *

Bit and Byte suddenly wrenched away from Zero and Colonel, their optics locking toward something near the heart of the cryoengineering complex with clear panic.

“We have to go--!?”

Bit was cut off by Zero's blade wrenching down his back, slamming him flat. Byte roared, starting to charge off again, though enraged for his comrade.

Byte took Colonel's blade to the leg in a sharp sweep, crashing him down as well.

Zero twirled his blade, glaring down at the two Mavericks while Deepfreeze and Buffalo dashed, crashed, and ice-blasted each other all over the natural arena they'd created between their ice attacks.

“You're not going anywhere,” Zero affirmed darkly.

Byte snapped a magnet trap out, while Bit roared into a spinning blade swipe at Zero, but Zero and Colonel twisted, Colonel slashing the trap down, Zero deflecting the swipe, and the battle was rejoined.

* * *

Dr. Light's holographic face appeared, and X's expression fell solemn, guilty for abandoning the capsules for so long already.

“X, these capsules have been compromised. Not in content, but in location. This one detected enemy forces had left it exposed, and tried to get your attention more actively. I am grateful it has succeeded. Whatever threat you're facing, I ask only that you remember who you are. You were made to have joy and happiness, and help others find it. Freedom is a two-edged sword, but slaves are not guilty for what they are forced to do... please remember, at the end.”

X's optics tightened, watering, as the words Dr. Light recorded so long ago now touched something deep in his mind. Old programming. Something was reminded, nudged, brought back near a surface somewhere, just not quite within reach.

“This capsule will upgrade your thruster system once again, X. The power is greatly increased, allowing short bursts of flight-like speed and power. May it carry you closer to your peace.”

X bowed his head as the hologram faded out. His hands slowly clenched.

“I'm trying, father...”

He turned, and backed into the capsule, letting the scanning waves rush over him as he closed his eyes. His legs were focused, began to glow, and his armor along them sharpened, detailed, and expanded out with fins and blades.

When the glow was done, he stepped out, his legs making deeper, but subtler hisses as they stepped.

X flexed each leg, then looked forward, and suddenly leaned down into a dash. He rocketed forward, flickering across the air, and ripped across the gap, charging back toward the vortex.

* * *

Deepfreeze rammed his hands into an exploding mass of ice-spikes, diverting their formation off to the side with his own cryoblasters. Blizzard Buffalo swept into a diving punch while Deepfreeze was so focused, but Deepfreeze was no rookie himself.

With a sharp side-flip, the Hunter watched as Buffalo's fist cratered the ground like a broken mirror from all the freezing winds across it.

“No words, just violence? You'll be so ashamed of yourself later, Blizz! You always looked for better ways out of a problem! I learned that from you!” Deepfreeze shouted over the wind.

Buffalo looked up slowly with narrowed optics. “I don't know you.”

The Maverick leaned forward as a whine built in his wake. The next moment, he ripped forward with astonishing speed! Rocket-propelled by thrusters in his hefty upper back, with his right fist cocked back to smash into Deepfreeze at full speed!

Deepfreeze backflipped, barely getting his head out of the fist's path. Clamping his legs around the attacking limb, Deepfreeze let Buffalo carry him forward, folded backward, and latched onto the Maverick's shoulder. Buffalo started to twist so he could shoulder-ram Deepfreeze into the icespike wall rushing up to them so quickly, but Deepfreeze let go with his legs, flipped around the shoulder, and freeze-blasted Buffalo's thrusters!

Deepfreeze kick-flipped off the Maverick's back as Buffalo tumbled from the awkward loss of acceleration, bashing a crater into the icewall just from his girth.

Buffalo rattled his head as he stepped out of the crater, some lucidity in his optics. “I shouldn't have fallen for that...” His brow creased, but the haze bled back into the edges as Doppler's version of the infection regained hold.

Deepfreeze gaped at the visual shift, but realized the infection had taken hold again by the shift in the Maverick's body language. “...Fight it, Blizz! I know you can! You'd rather be making sculptures, anyway, right?!”

Blizzard Buffalo hesitated, jerking, but then roared as he thruster-flared the ice off his back, and charged once again!

* * *

Two different mechaniloids exploded near the vortex of the blizzard machine, X flying up above them with a thruster-blasted leap. Flipping into the vortex itself, he was initially blasted upward, but he angled, trimmed his frame into a dive, and then his upgrades boots unleashed their concentrated plasma streams.

Still resisted, slowed by the winds of the machine, X started to dive down toward the device, almost like a water-diver striving for the ocean floor. The rapidly freezing air around him made his armor glisten and frost dangerously, and X started to wince.

Aiming with one arm, he fired a plasma bolt. It was forced off course by the violent winds being so forceful they were like a physical target.

X started to quickly cycle through weapons. A tornado blast suspended him for a moment, but couldn't overpower the vortex alone. Cutting weapons were blasted off course. Raysplasher was just like the plasma bolt, only a storm of them. He hesitated on the gravity well. It would easily crush him, too.

Finally, he wound up on the weapon from Blast Hornet. A grappling-mine launcher, almost like an explosive parasite.

Firing one of the parasitic mines downward, X blinked in shock as the mine spun with the vortex on the spikes around its middle, and dove down like a drill. It slammed down, hit the vortex emitter, and exploded, tearing parts of the machine open!

X lurched down, quickly flipping feet over to land on his haunches as the blizzard died to silence with unnatural immediacy.

A bit stunned at the abrupt success after so much toil, X looked down at his buster for the parasitic mines, the stubby spikes retracted on the would-be shot ready next. An idea started to grow in his mind, and he glanced aside, squinting. _That... might actually work pretty well._

//Deepfreeze, status?//

//I see you killed the blizzard! Still fighting! Zero and Colonel have your new friends occupied, and our forces are advancing now, but this is--...// silence for a moment, //not easy!//

//En route, I have an idea!//

* * *

It was a mad moment in the battle. All six fighters had been pressed dangerously close, cross-fire or side-slashes of weapons all too likely.

Bit was rising with a spin, an elbow blade burning through the air in recovery from deflecting Zero's cross-slash, the red Hunter lower, braced over one leg, trying to twist into a fresh lunge.

Similarly, Byte was rearing back, both fists raised, trying to smash down on Colonel, who was just recovering from a vertical slice at the Maverick's front, the two locking optics in the wake of the purple blade.

Deepfreeze was slamming his hands together, firing a freeze wave at Buffalo, who was rising up, arms expanding out, unleashing a fresh cluster-burst of frost-rockets.

And all of this poured into X's optics. With the blizzard resolved, the astonishing processing power Dr. Light had upgraded into his systems removed the hesitance and blindness that had weakened X so heavily before.

X burst immediately around Byte's shoulder, snapping a blast-bolt straight into the Maverick's face. With a twist-screw maneuver, X carried himself over, down, and punched Bit's crown with ground-cracking force... which X used to rebound upward, aim both busters in Parasitic Mine mode, and unleash a volley at Blizzard Buffalo's volley of frost-rockets.

Zero's optics flared in shock at the sheer speed and ferocity of X's arrival, only just catching up as the mines flew free. Colonel was watching Byte unexpectedly reel back in blinded pain, and Deepfreeze folded himself backwards as he realized X had arrived.

The parasite mines ripped across the gap, slightly faster than the frost rockets in the first place. On impact, each mine snapped spikes around and onto the frost-rockets' generators... and then exploded.

A slightly green-tinted cluster-wave of explosions ripped around Buffalo in a crescent, and only wreckage rained down amidst the Maverick's stumbling backpeddle.

X finished his backfilp from firing the volley of mines, dropping to three limbs, one buster back and braced. “You're about to be even more outnumbered! STAND DOWN!”

Zero and Colonel snapped back, braced with their weapons, but waiting. Deepfreeze rolled backwards and stayed crouched, cryo-energy glowing on his hands.

Blizzard Buffalo roared, clearly ready to keep fighting, but Bit and Byte shared a quick glance between themselves and X's noticeably modified legs.

“You won't always have so much back-up, X!” Bit chose to taunt, and then flickered back, dashing off at high speed.

Byte rocket-boosted himself up and away at the same time.

Zero grimaced, but Blizzard Buffalo charged, rocket-powered himself, that very moment.

Deepfreeze snapped his hands to the ground. “He won't be able to stop now!” A flash-freeze of ice was going out ahead of Buffalo.

Zero and Colonel shot forward. “The legs!”

Colonel gave a sharp, “Aye, sir!”

The two twist-slashed past Buffalo, the Maverick still trying to twist and fully tackle either of them, but failing as he slipped on the ice, then howling in furious pain as his legs were slashed open at the thighs.

Before he could fully crash down, still sliding forward, X snapped off two more parasitic mines into the Maverick's shoulders, which latched on, beeped sharply once, and then exploded.

An emergency-stasis Blizzard Buffalo slammed flat at X's feet with smoking shoulders and sparking legs the next moment.

X reverted, cycling his respirator... just as the other teams came pouring over the icespike walls. He nodded to himself, then looked up to Deepfreeze silently.

Deepfreeze was sad, but slowly nodded. //Thank you, X. He'll live.//

//I'd say we're even today. And Alia? Thank you.//

//Just try not to do that to me again, okay?// the anxiously relieved operator returned.

Zero turned to X with Colonel, cutting off the private conversation unknowingly. “X... I'll give you credit for constantly bringing surprises to the table. A leg upgrade mid-mission?” he checked in dismal near-humor.

Colonel seemed troubled and curious himself.

X shrugged softly, hands coming up. “Opportunity knocked.”

* * *

Dex blinked as he stepped into one of the support computer labs, seeing Iris over in a corner, busily working away on some documents on her screen.

“Holy smokes, Iris, do you never take a break?”

Iris squeaked, jerking with a blush, as she finally glanced over to him. “D-Dex! Hello! Sorry...” she winced socially, rubbing the back of her head.

Dex laughed a little as he stepped over to join her. “No need to be sorry, I just figured you'd rest up a bit after being the logistics hero of the hour today. Something urgent?”

Iris shrugged, and glanced back to her screen. It showed forensic data for the recent Dopplerforce enemies that had been neutralized. “Dr. Cain wanted some of the evidence recording to be double checked, and Alia assigned it to me the other day. I... just had the time...” She glanced off, both sincerely bashful, and guilty for hiding information from Dex. She had a good reason to be researching this data, but it was mostly for Zero's investigation...

Dex rubbed his chin casually as he peered at the data. “Doc's concerned about evidence data? Huh. Brass is getting really paranoid during this maverick war...”

Iris fidgeted her hands a bit. Zero's orders were uncomfortably clear in her mind. “S-speaking of, Dex, have you noticed anything else strange here? I don't... want to seem ungrateful for my position, but some of the way things are done is... not clear to me.”

Dex looked to her, sincere, but curious. “How do you mean?” Though his tone had shifted grave compared to previous.

Iris shrugged, all too keenly aware of how under-qualified she was for undercover work. “Why did X run ahead of the fight? You mentioned how paranoid our command seems. Just... details like that are starting to... bother me.”

Dex tilted his head. “You've noticed something more than that.”

Iris swallowed, realizing she'd made a terrible mistake. She cleared her throat, and decided to take a risk. “I... Depthcharge's medical pod is empty, but it was rigged to match his signature. No one has seen him for over a day now.”

Dex folded his hands together with one elbow propped on the wall of her Iris' cubicle. “Gotcha.” He took a moment. “Do you think Depthcharge is maverick?”

“I don't know, but he's missing.”

“And who do you think made him disappear?”

Iris nervously pulled a small datachip up, offering it to Dex. “It was carefully masked, but... X did it.”

Dex blinked, then checked the data on the chip. Iris' analysis was thorough, detailed, and showed a clear path of obfuscation in the data to hide X's signature on the modifications.

Dex cycled his respirator, and offered the chip back. “You're a damn good operator, Iris.” He raised his hands to show his was passive. “I'm not trying to tell you not to do your job, but I'd like you to consider something.”

Iris' brow creased. “...I'm listening, sir.”

“If someone was hiding something... but they were doing it so they could help save lives, would you still consider it wrong?”

Iris jerked back somewhat, and Dex didn't flinch, he just waited.

Iris winced. “I... You shouldn't have to hide doing the right thing...”

Dex shrugged smoothly. “Been a lot of reasons to hide doing the right thing throughout human history. Do what you believe you need to, Iris, just... I'd ask you to keep that in mind. Fair?”

Iris pouted, but slowly nodded. “Thank you...”

Dex gave a playful bow, and then trotted off.

* * *

Zero and Colonel stepped into one of the smaller computer labs of HQ, Iris hunched over a console already, mostly visible by the backlight of the screen as her focus remained on her task. Zero smiled a bit at her dedication, but Colonel cleared his throat as he remained at attention. Zero shifted a dry side-eye at Colonel for it.

Iris blinked, and then looked up, blushing and smiling a bit. “Ah! Sorry, sir! This is the data I called you for!”

Zero tipped his head, and Colonel followed over, the pair leaning down to look at Iris' console, Zero gaining a thoughtful frown.

Iris explained, “Since I couldn't find any concerns in the logistics side, I checked the forensics, which would be both harder and more dangerous to fake.” Knowing that revealing Depthcharge was missing would send Zero into a tail-spin, Iris was holding onto that information for the moment. It added more tension to her manner, but she also wanted to believe Dex's view of the situation. ...If Depthcharge was still missing after a few days, she might have to involve Zero anyway...

Aloud, she continued, “After the assault on HQ, every Maverick disabled by our forces has been recovered with minimal damage to their core processor and system buffer. Blizzard Buffalo in particular. If those grapple-mines X used had been placed much closer toward center mass, he'd be unrecoverable.”

Colonel raised an eyebrow. “It is common knowledge among Hunters that emergency stasis is now at 95% install success among the Reploid population, is it not?”

Zero and Iris both nodded, but Zero went on, “There's a difference between knowing something is there, and putting lives at risk to use something.” He then looked up to Colonel sidelong again, “Surely you're concerned by X's upgrade in the middle of a major battle?”

Iris pouted softly as she listened, glancing up to either side as the two spoke. If he really did just abandon everyone to upgrade his body, what had he done to poor Depthcharge?

Colonel nodded for his part. “Of course, sir. I simply do not see the connection you appear to be drawing between the emergency-stasis systems being relied upon and X's concerning behavior.”

Zero waved a hand to Iris' screen, looking back at it himself. “Before the battle here at HQ, X has killed every Maverick he's fought. Some of them incredibly brutally. Now he won't risk killing them...?”

Zero trailed off as his optics slowly widened.

Iris tilted her head. “Zero, sir, what's the matter?” She was fidgeting her hands to manage her own guilt about hiding Depthcharge's situation.

“Iris, how far back can you pull the forensic data?”

Iris blinked. “T-there's no expiration on such important information, sir, w-what do you want me to gather and assess?”

Zero had to smile a bit at her instantly re-tasking herself. “I'm getting spoiled by such an attentive operator.”

Iris blushed brilliantly, and Colonel cleared his throat again, dryly staring at Zero himself this time.

“What?” Zero blurted out. “I am! Anyway,” he turned more serious, “the point is that I want you to assess the forensic data for all of the major Maverick commanders. I mean all the way back to Storm Eagle and on. I want to know the exact condition of their personality processors and system buffers.”

Iris nodded quickly, and actually snapped back to pulling information that very moment. Zero smiled at her distantly for a beat, then eased upright with Colonel, who was still somewhat suspicious of Zero abruptly.

“Colonel, you and I can't ignore the direct Maverick threat, of course. Coordinate with Alia, see which patrol could use us the most, and I'll rally to your choice.”

Colonel saluted, and hurried out.

Zero paused, glancing over his shoulder to Iris, who already had several new data files open and being analyzed. _Is this what X and Alia have? ...Is X just protective of his operator? ...No, doesn't fill the gaps._ He started to move off, grim, but he paused again. _...Not all of the gaps, at least._ And then he finally headed out.


	6. Acid Base

Deepfreeze stood at-ease, his optics focused distantly on the repair pod before him. Blizzard Buffalo was there. Neon Tiger, Gravity Beetle, and Blast Hornet were visible in other pods to either side. There were warning signs not to breach containment, and guarding Hunters at the entry to the long, hall-like chamber.

But the Reploid wasn't alone. Alia stepped up on his right, her expression gently sympathetic as she moved her eyes from side-eyeing Deepfreeze to Buffalo in the pod.

“All of them should make a full recovery. The Doppler virus is actually approachable. Dr. Cain and Dex are days away from a full treatment.”

Deepfreeze cracked a faint smile. “Thanks, Alia...”

Alia nodded, then gave him another soft glance. “It seems like you two were more than just trainee and senior hunter...”

The redeemed Maverick nodded a bit. “Kindred spirits. We both preferred to avoid violence, but knew it was better to fight than let innocents be trampled over. ...He took to my lessons with more gusto than normal. It was... bolstering.” He cycled his respirator. “And his sculptures were exquisite. Shame of how he'd see me after all I did is much of why I do what I do now.”

Alia pouted softly. “Deep, that wasn't you.”

He bowed his head, his optics closing. “It's... not a rational emotion, Alia. It's difficult to articulate what it's like to be infected. Truly infected. I can't speak for these,” he gestured aerily among the four active repair pods. “But among... _us_ ,” he took care with his words, looking up to her again, “it's terribly difficult to draw the line between choice and infection. How much was will and how much was coercion. Rationally, we know the truth. We are victims as well, but...” His optics returned to Buffalo, tightening.

Alia took a breath, and then tugged one of his shoulders, giving him a mild start as she actually hugged him. A simple, soft hug, but clearly sincere.

Deepfreeze was so shocked he was frozen for a moment. He was all too keenly aware of the cruel fate he'd inflicted on Alia herself... her squad, when infected. And here she was embracing him out of sympathy for his pain.

At length, his face relaxed into sorrow, and he returned the embrace gratefully.

Alia held him for a moment further, then eased back, resting her hands on his shoulders to meet his eyes. “Whatever choices you made before, no one fully informed could doubt your devotion to justice now. I've worked with you now, Deep. I can promise you, you're not the Maverick I fought.”

Deepfreeze swallowed as a social mechanism, and bowed his head slowly, his optics watering somewhat. “...Thank you.”

Alia just gave a soft, pleasant sound, came closer to hug him quickly again... and then left him to watch over his old friend.

Deepfreeze was compelled to mutter to himself as she disappeared past the guards several meters away. “I've never met anyone like you...”

* * *

The sewers of Dopplertown were not standard fare. Vaulted tunnels, mixed concrete and metal construction, heavy walkways linking between cavernous drain-ways that wound up appearing like massive waterfalls with four walls and feeding pipes.

Mechaniloids were crawling all over it, but only a few were rigged for swimming in the sewer passages.

Depthcharge didn't need to cool with direct air. He was built for water work, and his system switched to a direct, movement-driven cooling system when he wanted it to. This allowed him to slip along through the waterways all but invisible to most of the security forces.

The occasional patrol of turtle-like mechaniloids he was able to outwit with quick, surprisingly agile movements. He hid among pipes or just around drain ingresses as the patrols propelled past.

He'd grown grim over the last few hours of searching. No traces of human activity. And with so many mechaniloids around, the likelihood of Jessica and her team being alive was dwindling with every second longer.

Reaching one of the main gathering basins, beneath the walls of waterfalls, Depthcharge paused to survey the specific area. The general flow of water was, unsurprisingly, to the treatment facility that was the heart of the sewers and service infrastructure. Also likely Acid Seahorse's HQ, if he had half a processor.

Staying obscured by habit at this point, he was not directly visible to any patrols. And this allowed Depthcharge to spot something that gave him hope like a flare in the abyss.

A water-geared human. They were staying deep, looking upward, and were using the water to help carry a crate of supplies with them. Their movements were cautious and careful, staying mostly hidden. With how the mechaniloids were patrolling, the human's methods would be effective. Depthcharge was just built better for this kind of work.

Not wanting to cause panic in such an exposed area, he waited. As the diver started to swim off, not using their water-jets to stay undetected, he carefully and quietly followed. He was all the slower for fear of missing patrols, which he kept checking for.

One patrol did finally appear, but it was a safe distance off yet. Setting up an HUD tracker for the patrol's path, Depthcharge focused on following the diver from a safe distance, and followed them into one of the maintenance drains. This he could barely fit into without compressing parts of his frame, so he waited a bit longer, and proceeded up after the diver had gone a fair distance.

The diver reached the end of the maintenance drain, and climbed out of the water on a small landing, near service door. By a few grunts of effort on the crate, _she_ managed to haul it up onto the walkway with her... and then froze, staring at the rippling water just out from where she stood.

In panic, she wrenched out a bolt-gun from her belt, but halted herself from firing in confused shock.

Depthcharge's anxious face and raised hands were all that had come out of the water.

The diver slowly lowered the bolt-gun, and then sank to her knees, shaking. She managed to get her head-gear off, and revealed her tearful expression to Depthcharge.

It was Jessica herself.

“T-took you long enough,” she gasped out in painfully mingled humor and anguish.

Depthcharge showed a matched expression, nodding a little. “Sorry, I'm late...”

* * *

It took some effort for Depthcharge to fit into the maintenance access room Jessica and her team were hiding in, but he did finally managed to squeeze through without making a racket.

“This is Greta, Dave, and Joan,” Jessica quickly gestured to the other humans.

Each was eyeing Depthcharge with varying degrees of suspicion or panic (or both), and they were clad in similar amphibious gear to Jessica herself. Logical for the work itself, and likely vital for their survival so far.

Greta was an older woman, her hair silver and face wrinkled, while Joan was closer to Jessica's age, with short, messy hair (likely not a fashion choice after such isolation). Dave was just a tired-looking young man with dark bags under his eyes.

Depthcharge tipped his head to the team, and looked back to Jessica. She was clearly acting as a leader, officially or not. “Is this everyone from your team?” He deliberately left off 'that's alive.'

Dave snorted a harsh laugh, likely filling in the gap Depthcharge had left for himself.

Jessica gave Dave a mild stare, but quickly refocused. “Yes, thankfully. I-it's been insane. We got cut off because we were doing deep-level maintenance--”

Greta cut in, “The teams rotated that job, because everyone hates it.”

Jessica nodded to the addendum, and went on, “Comms are awful during deep maintenance, just too much concrete and metal between any signals. By the time we had proper comms again, the lockdown was already in effect.”

She was trembling, but controlling her voice. Depthcharge's optics tightened at how hard she was holding herself together. Survival and feeling like people would die if she let them down. It was written all over her haggard face. And she'd never signed on for that kind of risk. This was just supposed to be maintenance work, utilities, not a warzone.

Joan finally spoke up, her voice hoarse for some reason, “We didn't know why the lockdown hit until that damn robots started trying to kill us all.”

Jessica sighed heavily, but nodded. The facts were the facts. She looked up through her messy bangs to Depthcharge. “Why are you alone?”

It was abrupt, even her own team was startled by the question.

Depthcharge sank a bit, but nodded slowly first. “...You're the only reason I thought to check for anyone missing down here.” He specifically looked over to the other three. “I apologize for that oversight on behalf of the Hunters. It shouldn't have happened.”

Dave started laughing hysterically, and Joan had to kick him to get him to shut up, while Greta just rubbed her temples.

“Well I guess we're REAL GLAD Jess is here!” Dave had to burst out despite Joan swatting him again.

“Quiet! We don't know how good their sonar is or not!” Joan rasped viciously, clearly very serious in her anger at the noise.

Depthcharge tried to defuse what he could. “You chose your hiding place perfectly for that concern. None of their patrols get within range of this access.”

Jessica did seem slightly bolstered by that, and Dave glanced off. Perhaps there had been an argument about that very thing.

“I-I'm really glad to hear that, at least. S-so... uh...” She closed her eyes, rattled her head, and then looked up more calmly, “you're just scouting, technically, right?”

Depthcharge nodded again, but found himself reaching out before he thought about it, and gently touched her shoulder with as much of his hand as could fit. “But I'm not leaving without all of you.”

Her eyes watered, but she swallowed it down. “T-thank you. So... we need a plan?”

“Exactly.” Depthcharge looked across the team. “This situation is obviously extreme, so I can't pretend I can remove all risk, but I promise I will put my life on the line for each of you to get out of here and away to safety.” He paused, then looked to Jessica again specifically, “My initial idea is that I should move out from this location, and send out a comm-buoy with an encrypted message. Reliable Hunters know to listen for me, but we have to assume the worst, which means it will tell the Mavericks where to find you within a few minutes.”

“Why would it tell them anything about us?” Dave had to protest.

“Because I need our friends to know where to find us in a labyrinth of tunnels and water,” Depthcharge returned calmly, treating the complaint as entirely valid. “And while I will be encrypting the message, as I said, I must assume the worst. Breaching the encryption might only take a few minutes. For that reason, we must be ready to move, with me acting as the guard.”

Joan croaked, “That sounds rational, but we're not in great shape, Reploid--”

It was Jessica's turn to cut in, “His name is Depthcharge. He's my friend as much as a Hunter. Please...”

Everyone glanced at her, but Joan went on fairly neutral, “My point is that we aren't moving fast. Jessica is the go-getter, so we made sure she got to eat. Those supplies she just yanked in are our first meal in over a day, and we're not athletes or soldiers. We're tired, sick, and weak.”

Depthcharge frowned with his optics, glancing over the four for a few seconds. “...Objections to being carried?”

Greta chuckled a bit. “None from me, but can you do your job that way?”

“Not very well, but I think speed might be more important than defense at a certain point.”

Jessica wrung her hands slowly, a tension management habit, while the others shared a wary glance. Dave's silence was poignant.

Jessica finally spoke, “Wait, one issue I see. If your allies come to THIS location, and we've moved, they'll be ambushed, right?”

Depthcharge smiled a little. “Sure you're not a soldier?”

Jessica deadpanned as much as the other three, and the Reploid cleared his throat out of social habit.

“Sorry. Anyway, part of my message will be including our heading. That will give them enough for a fair estimate and chance to join us if we run into trouble.”

Joan asked, “If they can't crack your encryption, it should be quick and painless, right? Just start running, and we go home?”

Depthcharge nodded. “That's the best version, yes.”

Greta added, “But he's right, we have to be ready for the worst version, or we'll just get ground up.”

Depthcharge gestured to her. “As she says.” He looked to Jessica again, “If the path were cleared, what is the fastest way OUT for your team?”

Jessica took a breath, nodded, and pulled out a datapad device from her water-sealed satchel. “Got a few options, so let's go over that to start.”

Depthcharge nodded, gestured to welcome the others over, and crouched down to go over the plan with them.

It was going to be a hard run.

* * *

Depthcharge silent-drifted along the bottom of the drain basin where he'd first caught sight of Jessica. He was on the far side of it, away from the service path that led to the humans' hideout. He took some time to confirm the patrols of turtle-like mechaniloids were consistent.

He climbed along the surface until he got to one of the major drainways feeding the basin. There, he readied his torpedo launcher in his right arm, but the 'torpedo' was some kind of comm device. He aimed it up the drainway, and fired it off with a soft pop of air and force.

He waited a moment. The patrols weren't set off by the firing. Good.

Quickly shifting away, and going back to the bottom of the basin, he tapped a control on his arm, and the buoy he launched finally emitted its signal. A coded burst of data, the coordinates and path the team intended to take, directly to Maverick Hunter HQ.

Depthcharge frowned in a grim manner as he watched the patrols he could see suddenly snap around and rush toward the source of the signal. They would definitely be trying to crack it.

Regardless, it was a distraction, so he burst with more speed, returning toward Jessica's team.

* * *

Acid Seahorse was a gangled creature. His design more resembled a dragon or snake with the elongated neck, torso, and tail, mingled with relatively short arms and legs. The almost comical nature of his faceplating belied the cruel weaponry it contained, as he looked like a grated megaphone with optics on the back.

Those same optics narrowed to malicious slits as his control chamber in the processing plant lit up with alerts. Touching a few controls, he saw the exact location of the signal ping, and how heavily encrypted the message was.

Acid Seahorse snapped his tail over to another console, jamming a button. “Dr. Doppler.” His voice was heavily filtered and rasped.

“I've no time for idle distractions, what is it?”

“I need the comm protocols from Mac. Now.”

“...Sending.”

Acid Seahorse's optics slowly glinted with an awful smile as the message partially decrypted in an instant. “...Ah, so they did update after Mac's betrayal. Fair enough. ...This will get me started.”

He twisted, loping along to the exit in an alien kind of bound. “All mechaniloids, converge on point 228. We've vermin in the tunnels.”

* * *

Jessica, in her full gear other than the flippers, charged out of the hideout, and started further up the tunnel rather than heading down toward the basin. The others hurried out, but lingered until Depthcharge folded himself through. The Reploid then gathered them all up in his arms like small children, starting to bound after Jessica. He had the route, too, but she knew it better, and could give him a warning for the others' sake if they had to duck back or hide.

Greta was looking back over his shoulder. Something about her age made her better used to handling these stresses, and she didn't want Depthcharge's armor exploding to be the first warning of an attack from behind.

Jessica reached a junction, and only paused enough to wave sharply and duck to the left path. Depthcharge started to stomp around that corner when Greta's eyes caught a shadow under the water behind him.

“LOOK OUT!”

Greta's voice crying out was the only real warning. Depthcharge and Jessica were just starting to turn their heads to confirm the nature of the problem when the water at the junction, just behind Depthcharge, exploded upward.

Acid Seahorse's head and arms burst out of the wall of water while it still rose, his optics maliciously narrow. “Humans and a pet! I'll help you MELT together!”

The maverick's head pitch-snapped twice, his vented trumpet of a mouth gushing out two massive globules of bright green fluid.

Depthcharge's optics widened, Jessica trying to draw her bolt-gun while growing in panic.

“RUUUUUUN!”

Depthcharge's bellow was the only clue to Joan, Dave, and Greta, who were suddenly airborne and rushing toward Jessica.

As the three tumbled and tried to scramble back, Depthcharge actually spread his arms and feet, and braced backward.

Both globs of green slammed into his back, splashing across the walls, and around him to some extent. Joan scrambled all the faster when part of the cement at her feet was splattered... and began to melt away with putrid steam rising off.

Jessica froze for that heartbeat, watching in private horror and sympathy as Depthcharge's bulky frame shrank in the worst way. The majority of his back sluffed off like charred meat, and she could see his face violently controlling his pain receptors overloading.

But there was a reason he used his back to block for them. Depthcharge, still melting in several places himself, wrenched around, one foot slamming forward, as his missile-launchers articulated out over his hands. “GO, GO, GO!”

Greta wrenched Jessica back by her gear, and the four humans finally started running, Jessica coughing on sobs as she warred between guilt and survival.

Acid Seahorse leapt out of the water as it finally started to crash down, twisting and writhing between the volley of missiles Depthcharge fired initially.

“Stubborn, I'll grant you! But soon it won't matter!” Seahorse mocked as he hit the ground, whipped himself forward, and started to leap at Depthcharge again.

Depthcharge was no fool, however. Just when Seahorse started to pitch his neck, the Hunter suddenly snapped his right launcher up and fired a straight-rocket missile. It had no correction or arcing path, it just blitzed across the gap, and slammed straight into Seahorse's chest like a ram.

Which then exploded.

Seahorse roared in pain as he was thrown back violently, his acid gushing up into the ceiling instead.

Depthcharge twisted, and charged after the humans despite his back half being little more than his core systems and servos.

Hearing stomps behind them, Jessica risked a look back, and was more relieved than she could put to words that he was at least still moving.

“KEEP RUNNING!” was all Depthcharge said at her look, waving sharply for her to charge forward.

They heard the sound of things collapsing behind them, presumably from Seahorse's acid spray into the roof, but only a moment later, Seahorse's shadow was ripping through the water on their right.

Depthcharge twisted to fire into the water, but Seahorse could launch himself with remarkable speed when water was involved, and the three missiles exploded harmlessly in the wash beneath him.

“Time to finish you, then your meatsack masters!”

Jessica twisted, wrenching Joan and Dave past her, and snapped her bolt-gun up. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!” rang out as she fired several hot bolts at the maverick.

Seahorse laughed as he twisted into a strange roll down toward Depthcharge, who was correcting his aim, causing the bolts to singe the air just over the maverick rather than his plating.

Depthcharge desperately started to fire down at Seahorse, lacking a proper target lock for time, and the maverick twisted again, one-two launching acid globs at each of the two firing at him.

But in that same instant, the ceiling burst open in a strange ring of green light before two plasma-saws came flying down.

X flickered down in their wake, his colors shifting as he twisted around, his head toward the water, both busters articulating into Crystal Shot, the weapon stolen from Crystal Snail.

Thanks to Dr. Light's upgrades, X was moving at catastrophic speed, and his senses could match it. He saw Depthcharge's awful wounds, the acid in the air, and the poor human in swim-gear about to get melted into the cement.

It reminded him far too much of all the losses suffered against the virus...

Two crystal shots were airborne the next instant. They perfectly slammed into the acid globs. The liquid-type projectiles seemed to timelessly dance and warp together at first... then snapped solid into crystalline rocks that harmlessly bounced off to the side of either target.

The next instant was the splash of X hitting the water, followed by all three in battle snapping focus toward the splash.

It had all been a lightning strike of activity to the others, creating a moment of confusion strong enough to pause the fight.

“GET OUT OF THERE!” Greta roared back from further up the tunnel as she finally realized they had all stopped.

Seahorse corrected first, starting to twist toward Depthcharge directly, but something burst out of the water like a comet, and shattered the wall to Depthcharge's right with Seahorse's back.

X was only clearly visible after he stopped, pressing the Maverick into the wall, and his expression was unusually fierce and desperate. He looked somehow enraged, despite only shouting, “RUN, get them out!”

Depthcharge was stunned for a corepulse, but then wrenched himself out of it, charged back, and gathered Jessica up in his arms to sprint after the others.

“Well, aren't you quick on the draw?” Seahorse taunted darkly, and then rammed his head down to point-blank X with acid.

X backflipped, fired his new thrusters, and kicked Seahorse's chin so hard the acid sprayed into the ceiling again instead. “Occupational necessity,” he hissed back before launching himself right back into the maverick's torso.

* * *

Joan glanced to Depthcharge as he caught up with his larger, if badly damaged, legs. “Are you actually gonna make it!?”

Depthcharge nodded as he continued forward. “If we reach a pausing point, I'll collect you all, but for now just keep running!”

Very direct survival instincts had adrenaline charging their bodies enough to keep moving, and no one really wanted to suggest a pause with the sounds of combat behind them. Jessica, still being carried, just looked up at Depthcharge's face from the side, her masked face crying silently. He was all but torn apart, and he wasn't even trying to rest. ...She reached out and just touched his chest, his heart, bowing her head. He couldn't risk glancing down... but he felt it.

Then water splashed ahead of them. Greta literally skidded on her boots, Joan and Dave making themselves fall backwards to avoid moving any further forward.

Depthcharge didn't pause. He dropped Jessica to her feet with one arm, leapt over Greta's head, and slammed down to his haunches ahead of her with his launchers reactivating.

Mechaniloids were leaping out of the water and pouring down the tunnel's paths ahead, their numbers swelling even in the handful of seconds it took Depthcharge to take the fore.

He immediately opened fire with both arms, sending a wave of explosive death down the tunnel.

It bought seconds, but Joan watched the supports buckle softly. “We can't fight like this down here! The whole thing will crash down!”

Depthcharge glanced up, his optics scanning the problem. “...Stay right on my skidplate, we have to charge through!”

Dave gasped in despair. “Are you joking!? They'll just tear us apart once they're behind us!”

Jessica, reloading her bolt-gun, rejoined, “Do you have a better idea!?”

//Depthcharge, block debris! Forward of your position!//

The X-hunter comm. Depthcharge's optics widened. “...Hold!” And he suddenly twisted back, curling his arms around the four humans, startling them.

They didn't have to ask why when the ceiling beyond exploded.

Barrel spun-drilled out first, churning down into the mechaniloid forces on Depthcharge's side of the tunnel. The energy fields Barrel could generate were also drills of a kind, and he tore through the ranks like so much water.

Spikesaw appeared on the other side, crashing down only to come swiping with both massive plasma-saws. No mechaniloid passed him whole.

Barrel shouted back while decimating more mechaniloids, “Depthcharge, start moving! We're your cover support!”

Depthcharge didn't waste another second. “Jessica! They'll need your directions! I've got the others!”

She bolted toward Barrel as Depthcharge gathered up Greta, Joan, and Dave once again, twisting to charge after her.

“Spikesaw, on me! Rear guard!” Barrel shouted as the escape team reached him.

Spikesaw side-flipped across the water, slammed down behind Depthcharge, and joined the deathtrain they were forming through the mechaniloid army.

Ducking parts rather than enemy fire, Jessica quickly shouted, “Next junction, LEFT!”

“Copy that!” Barrel confirmed while blasting apart a group.

* * *

Acid Seahorse managed a spray of acid that forced X to leap back across the water channel at their feet.

 _But how did they make it so fast? Tunneling, even with plasma cutters, takes time_ , Seahorse pondered darkly as he eyed X for a beat.

It seemed X was content to stall for time, so the two faced off for a moment further.

“So how did you get here so fast? Even with the coordinates from your half-melted friend, you'd need hours to get to this level...”

X's colors snapped to dark hues and purple, his busters articulating into chain-claws. “You underestimate good logistical support.”

Seahorse frowned. “Even with a perfect path selection, it would still take time.”

“Guess you'll just have to surrender to find out.”

Seahorse scoffed in disgust, then dove for the waterway. X fired off one claw to wrench himself toward the maverick, but was startled at Seahorse's speed once he hit the water.

Snap-twisting into a boosted rush, X tore along the surface after Seahorse, his optics jerking around, trying to come up with a way to halt the maverick before they got too close to the fleeing humans, even with Barrel and Spikesaw guarding them.

X frowned finally. They were getting far too close. He could see Spikesaw's cutters glowing further ahead.

_I need to turn the water against him, or—wait, of course!_

X growled at his own stupidity, and his colors snapped to blues and purples. His busters reconfigured into pod-launchers of some kind just before he snapped both weapons forward, and unleashed a volley of Frost Shield rockets.

Seahorse laughed as he breached, arced, and dove around the volley, but X smirked somewhat just before the cryogenerators reactivated under the water.

In a blast-rush of force and crystaline chimes, Seahorse was roaring in dismay as he tried to geyser upward, only to lock up in an instantly frozen tower of ice in the middle of the tunnel.

“What!? NO!” the maverick roared in fury.

X hand-flipped around the tower of ice, planting himself just in front of Seahorse's face the next moment. “Last chance. Shut down the mechaniloids and surrender.”

Seahorse started to vomit out an acid geyser, but X smoothly arced his body away from it, and then suddenly wrenched inward, claw-punching _through_ Seahorse's chest-plating and the ice holding it. His digits curled around the safety pod for the personality chip and system buffer, triggering it to self-isolate with emergency stasis.

Seahorse's body shut down instantly, and X wrenched the pod out. With a quick scan with his Light-enhanced systems, he had the codes he needed, and he looked out toward the now distant glow of Spikesaw's weapons.

//Dispersing shutdown signal!//

* * *

Barrel had just shoulder-checked a larger missile-walker into the wall, while Spikesaw bisected two turtlebots behind Jessica, Depthcharge, and the others, when X's signal reached them.

Within seconds, the remaining mechaniloids jerked, their optics dimmed, and they crashed down lifelessly or sank into the waterway.

Everyone paused for a moment, before Barrel laughed, and looked back to the team that had fought so hard to get free. “Sewer systems secure. Come on, let's get you all to medical and home.”

Depthcharge finally slumped to his knees, letting the humans down. “...Thank you...” weakly passed from his faceplate before he just crashed down against the wall.

Jessica bolted to his side, shaking his shoulder. “Depthcharge! No! Don't go!”

Spikesaw hurried over, resting a hand on Depthcharge's shoulder to confirm his system status. “...Just shutdown, not dead. His core is drained, and he's hurt, but he'll be okay.”

Jessica locked up for a moment, staring at Spikesaw... and then she fell on Depthcharge's chest, sobbing with relief and guilt in equal parts.

Greta and the others couldn't help watching, a bit high on relief, but also realizing that something more than just surviving was pushing Jessica over her emotional threshold in that moment.

Barrel clenched his jaw for a moment, and then eased over. “...We should still get out of here, just to be safe. Who needs a hand moving?”

Jessica pulled herself up. “Please... help him...”

And X finally came up from further down the waterway, placing something under his armor at his back. “We will... Jessica. He'll be alright. Let's get you all to safety, please?”

Even as X tried to nudge them along, he knelt down, and actually started to help heft Depthcharge up, Spikesaw joining him quickly.

Jessica pulled her headgear off finally, showing a tearful smile, nodding clear gratitude before Barrel spoke up.

“You heard the bot, let's get out of this hellhole, eh?”

“You said it,” Joan groaned heavily, starting after him with the others.

* * *

Zero groaned, lowering a datapad as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“...Is it a bad time, sir?”

His optics blinked open, and he focused on Iris with an instantly warm smile. “Never for you, Iris. What do you need?”

Iris found herself blushing intensely, and tried to brush past it. _It's professional praise!_ She tried to remind herself, though that didn't help the blush much. “I-I just wanted to update you on the findings from that... task you left me?”

Her hesitance on the phrasing made Zero tilt his head, then nod, and pull out a signal dampener. They were both in one of the smaller briefing rooms, so they already had privacy physically. He activated the device, and gestured to her.

Iris tipped her head, and offered him a different datapad from under her arm. “It seems you were right to be concerned, sir. _All_ cases you requested had missing personalty drives and system buffers.”

Zero jerked, and stared up at her from the pad. “All of them? ...Surely some were destroyed?”

Iris shook her head, turning a bit more grim herself, lips pressing before she spoke. “I assumed so at first, but I double-checked the few cases that appeared likely to be destruction. Detailed forensics were performed for the same reason, and it was confirmed that the damage patterns were inconsistent with destruction. The parts were removed before the hardware casings were critically breached. We have most of the buffers here at HQ now, but there were odd gaps between the defeat of those Mavericks and the buffers being in our labs.”

Zero was stuck staring at her intensely for a long moment. When she was just about to wilt under his gaze, he finally looked back down to the pad, glancing over a few more results she'd compiled. “...You mean to tell me that every single Maverick commander in the last three years could have been rebuilt entirely? And not via cloning?”

Iris shifted awkwardly, but nodded. “Yes, sir. And the reports from X confirming the clones of the Maverick commanders from previous Maverick outbreaks had corroborating forensics. Only duped personalities, with the data decay to go with it. The original personality drives and buffers were not involved.”

Zero slowly rubbed down his mouth, and paced away from her, his optics darting around. “...X was the last person to be present near all of them, right?”

“By all data I have access to, yes, sir.”

Zero bowed his head, his fists clenched at his sides after putting the pad down on the table. “...Iris, I... am not thinking clearly. I need advice...”

Iris was caught by how tense and quiet his voice suddenly became. With a hand near her own lips, she nodded, but said aloud as he faced away, “Advice about what...?”

“...If I report your findings to Dr. Cain, it demands an inquiry. X would be locked down until we can confirm where those drives and buffers went. Part of me wants to do it immediately, with all my suspicious building up like this, but I think... I...”

Iris eased up behind Zero quietly, and touched his shoulder. He jerked... then eased, and glanced over his shoulder. His gaze was harrowed, but attentive, her own was deeply empathetic.

“...Zero, do you trust him?”

Zero blinked, eyes widening, and then he faltered awkwardly. “I... want to... But his methods... I...”

“Do you trust him?” she repeated more firmly, head bowing.

Zero's brow knit, his head bowing fully. “...Not completely, no.”

“...Then you should report it, sir.” Her hand softly retreated, and she offered a little nod of support.

Zero huffed a weak laugh, then looked up to her seriously again. “...Do _you_ trust him?”

Iris was caught again, her mouth agape. Especially with Depthcharge's return, and the report of what he'd really been missing for... But these missing parts were a deadly serious problem, too. “I... don't... think I... I...”

Zero turned, and rested a hand on her shoulder. “It's not a trap. I'm asking.” He lowered his hand, exhaled, then explained, “X inspires loyalty the likes of which I've never seen. His circle is... tightly knit, smart, reliable. Only after meeting you and your brother have I come to realize how... powerful that is. How effective. It's a great help... and terrifying to me, if used improperly.”

Iris tipped her head a little. “And I agree with your sentiment, sir. I want to trust X, he seems kind and good, but there _are_ concerning things happening, and he is the only person in question. It would... be remiss to ignore it.” She seemed almost grieved to admit it.

Zero rubbed a hand down his face, and nodded. “It would be remiss. I'll go to Dr. Cain. Please update your brother?”

“Of course, sir!”

Zero smiled, and moved around her with a gentle shoulder touch. “I'm getting used to having you around, Iris. Stay safe, alright?”

She blushed again, and more squeaked than replied, “Yes, sir!” before he was gone.

* * *

Jessica exhaled slowly, leaning back in her cot. She was in one of the medical facilities near the heart of the city, not far from Maverick Hunter HQ. They wanted to keep her for one full day just to make sure of various potential concerns. It was the same for Greta, Joan, and Dave, and she was worried about Greta's more aged body, so she didn't balk at the 'request' from the doctors.

She was worried about Depthcharge. He'd been so terribly hurt... again. Her lips twisted into a frown as her hand clenched.

Her emotions vanished beneath her facade for sake of surprise when her door opened gently.

It was Depthcharge himself, managing to fold through the human-scale doorway, and looking fully repaired.

It was clear Jessica was delighted instinctively, and started to rise up for him, but the Reploid hurried closer and leaned toward her to hug her before she could leave the cot.

“Easy, easy... You deserve your rest,” Depthcharge started softly, only just breaking apart to smile at her with his optics.

Jessica wiped some relieved tears from her eyes. “So do you, silly. Thank you,” she started to grow more emotional, her face constricting against sobs. “Thank you so much for rescuing us, finding us, fighting so hard for us...”

Depthcharge reached up to softly touch her shoulder with part of his massive hand. “Hey... Jessica, you were doing something incredibly kind for Reploids. I was honored and grateful for it. I can only apologize for how long it took me to realize you were missing. I just... got... distracted--”

His guilty reverie was cut off by her slightly firm tone, “By a war breaking out. Don't you dare blame yourself. It's a miracle you found us, and seeing you down there was such a massive relief,” she started to break down fully, sobs cutting into her words, “I can't even... put it... into words!”

Depthcharge showed his anguish, and lifted his hand to carefully caress down over her hair. He leaned closer, and she lashed her arms around his neck again. She was trembling, sobbing, but it was calming her to some degree.

“...I'm so glad you're okay,” he let out quietly, like a breath of a whisper.

Jessica squeezed the hug, but whimpered back, “I'm not okay...”

He cringed. Of course she wasn't. She was traumatized, exhausted, recovering, overwhelmed...

She started to shake more violently, and sob afresh. “I-I can't... I'm so sorry, I-I can't...”

His optics flared in panic, then faded offline. “...Can't what?” he only pushed in a gentle tone. He had suspicions, but it was important she actually express herself.

She sobbed for several seconds, unable to form words, but, at last, she managed, “I-I c-can't k-keep d-doing t-t-this!”

Her frame tried to curl down tighter, guilt making her want to hide even inside the hug.

Depthcharge just held onto her for a few moments before he tried to speak again.

“You don't have to do anything, Jessica. You can leave all this.”

Jessica slowly calmed, sniffed, and lifted her head to look into his optics. “...Wouldn't that be cruel to you?” she whispered back.

Depthcharge shook his head softly. “I... need to see the Maverick problem resolved. It's... deep-rooted in me. You don't need to do that. You don't need to keep facing so much danger just trying to help people. You deserve peace, too, Jessica.” He gave a little tip of his head with his final point.

Jessica struggled against sobs again, but sniffed, wiped away what poured out, and replied, “I-I wanted to help your people. Reploids. A lot of humans still don't... respect you properly. I... wanted to _show_ I wasn't like that, but I...” She wrung her hands together. “I-I'm not a warrior, Depthcharge. I'm afraid—Terrified!” she emphasized over herself with a pained stare into his optics. “Why do Mavericks keep happening? I-I don't... I don't want to be like those awful humans, but I'm so afraid!”

Depthcharge was clearly pained, but equally sympathetic. He softly nodded, and held both of her shoulders carefully for a moment. “You've seen us at our worst more closely than most, Jessica. Most people would hate us all for that. I can't blame you for your fear, or wanting to get away from this insanity. I just... hope you trust that I'm on your side?”

Jessica nodded instantly, smiling at last. “You've always been there for me, Depthcharge...”

He glanced down. There had been times he was not there for her at all, and that tormented him, but... He looked back up to her. “You are so kind, Jessica. If you need anything to get where you want to be, just tell me, okay?”

She looked between his optics, and then reached out, caressing part of his faceplate. “...Come with me?”

Depthcharge blinked, stunned silent and still. She knew it would be a shock to him, and didn't seem hurt. She just held her hand there, looking at him, gently pleading.

Slowly, his anguish became more obvious, and her expression faltered, though with sympathy rather than pain.

She folded her hands down into her lap, bowing her head, and closing her eyes. “...I'm sorry, that was cruel of me.”

“No, it wasn't,” was a quiet rush of sound out of his systems.

She looked up to him softly, seeing him stare down through everything like his optics were drill to mine deep beneath their feet.

“I... have to see this through...” he trailed weakly. “I... can't leave... I... I wouldn't be able to focus on that... safe life you deserve to have.”

Jessica swallowed. “...And if it never ends?”

His head bowed. “I... if...”

Her hand reached up, touching his faceplate where his lips would be. Their gazes locked, and she smiled weakly. “Thank you for being honest with me... You'll stay in touch, right?”

Depthcharge nodded instantly. “Always, unless you forbid it.”

She giggled, and leaned up... kissing the side of his face. “I'll always allow it.”


	7. Deep Core

Dr. Cain slowly set the datapad down on his desk, looking down thoughtfully, grim, as Zero stood in front of the desk, waiting with a degree of restrained impatience.

“...It seems cut and dry to me, Doctor,” Zero finally prompted, though his tone remained calm.

Dr. Cain lifted his gaze to the red Reploid. “It does? Missing parts and suspicions doesn't seem cut and dry to me, Zero.”

Zero frowned, but didn't lash out. “It at least demands an inquiry, Doctor...”

Dr. Cain stood up with his cane, and stepped around to the massive screen behind his chair, looking up at data readouts and analyses. The Doppler virus and the original, full virus both being analyzed.

“We're at a crossroads, Zero. We have suspicions of X, but can you question his results?”

Zero clenched his fists. “Dr. Cain, we can't ignore the implications here.”

“You sound like you're trying to convince yourself, too.”

Zero bowed his head, his jaw clenching.

Dr. Cain looked over his shoulder, turning enough for one cane-tap on the ground. “I don't want to ground our most successful and, terrifyingly enough, most powerful Hunter.” After a pause, he added, “Not during a crisis.”

Zero lifted his gaze. “...So you're fine with letting him take bullets for us, but once the heat dies down, we lock him up?”

“And I'll tell him as much to his face. I imagine he'll agree, once the information is laid out.”

Zero's fists shivered. He hadn't expected this. _I was already conflicted, but this is... tricking. Manipulation. X is too noble to not fight, and too noble not to stand down when we want him to? And if we KNOW that much, why not just trust him? ...Because I want to know where all those mavericks went?_

He finally looked up again. “Dr. Cain, we either trust him, or we don't. If you think he needs to be locked up _after_ , then we must lock him up now. Or we're becoming the worst kind of hypocrites.”

Dr. Cain finally showed some anger in his expression. The lines of age deepened with a surprisingly dark expression. He had suffered himself, and there was old iron behind those aged eyes. “He is _lying_ to us, Zero.” His voice was firm, sharp, but not loud. Each word hit like a quiet dagger. “Deceiving us. He does not trust us. But he is extremely effective. A crisis demands certain considerations. Peace time demands order and consequences.”

Zero didn't weaken at the challenge. “Now who's convincing themselves?”

Dr. Cain glanced down.

“You're the boss, Doc... but if you want to loose him now, only to leash him later, I won't be your sheepdog. Since we're so focused on being honest.”

A hard stare locked between them, but Dr. Cain only said, “Dismissed,” after the intense pause.

Zero saluted, and marched out without another word.

* * *

Sigma's frame crashed down in the computer-core, and the hardlight matrix in the massive complex manifested his head as an embodiment of the virus. X struggled, dodged, clawed at the disembodied foe, but it seized onto him more than once.

And as it tried to infect him... A flash of light, peace, and Dr. Light's face.

X's optics snapped open.

He was in one of the charging bays, resting as Alia had pleaded with him to do.

“...A dream...” he murmured, sitting up, lost in thought. “Dream of memories, though...”

How had the attempted infection woken something so deep and... good in him? It felt safe, protected. X's brow creased, and he reached up, rubbing at his temple as he tried to access his deeper systems.

It might've surprised his friends, but there were significant parts of X's own systems he never accessed. Dr. Light structures and codes that still hadn't activated. It was so hard to find the source of that oddly calm relief during the infection attempt.

He searched further, deeper. Some systems even confirmed to him that they were awaiting other upgrades, other capsules, that had not called out to him yet.

_Dozens of upgrades... Dr. Light must've spent the rest of his life hiding them away once I was locked into my testing cycle... Wait._

There it was. It was part of his body's core operating system coding. A kind of software-equivalent of a blackbox, with almost alien coding in the encryption. It...

_It adapts like the virus...? It's practically alive, and it's... feeding data out into my systems, but I can't overwrite it at all. How is this...?_

It was disturbing intrinsically. A part of himself he couldn't even fathom how to access. But the way it changed...

X's eyes widened suddenly. He leapt to his feet, dashing out of the charging room. _I have to verify this!_

* * *

Barrel squinted his optics down at the quarry. He was far beyond the perimeter, with Quickman and Shimmer a bit further behind him, going over sensor data. Within the perimeter were hundreds of mechaniloids patrolling around, protecting automated mining carts that were carrying supplies to transport trucks.

“...Not like him to stay hidden from the most exposed part of his operation.”

Shimmer and Quickman both looked up to Barrel's back.

“And the infection usually spikes aggression, not cowardice,” Shimmer added. “Has Tunnel Rhino used other tactics before?”

Barrel frowned, his hands flexing a bit. “He's not a fool. He's a master of terrain manipulation and martial combat. I think he's waiting for something.”

Quickman tilted his head. “You're more distant than usual yourself. ...I trust you won't just charge in without backup?”

Barrel gave Quickman a glare over his shoulder, and Shimmer took renewed interest in the sensor data.

Quickman just shrugged smoothly as his response to the glare.

Barrel finally replied, “I'm not that off kilter, Quick. How's the data coming? We ready to send in the army?”

Shimmer chimed in again, “Very strictly scheduled, and thus predictable, surface-level activity. So much so that I rather assume he's up to something, yes.”

Quickman gestured out, “But we're not getting any new data, either. We're done here, regardless.”

Barrel nodded. “Shall we get this report to Signas? ...I might have a chat with X while you do, if that's alright?”

Shimmer and Quickman dryly smiled back, and then nodded. The trio started packing up gear to avoid it being discovered in their absence.

* * *

X closed down a few screens in the X-Hunter bunker's main console as he turned. “You sounded pretty grim, Barrel.”

The Reploid nodded to X as he stepped down into the central space of the bunker with a few hissing rushes of his legs. “I want to help with Tunnel Rhino. ...More directly, I mean.”

X remained pensive, and stepped down to face Barrel more evenly. Barrel, like most Reploids, was significantly taller than X, but none of the X-Hunters ever underestimated him for it.

“Even though it's a lesser infection, the Doppler virus is powerful enough, Barrel. Do you really just want to be there to help put down his body?”

Barrel clenched his fists briefly, but nodded. “I owe him. Up to now, I haven't really had... justifiable reason to seek him out. Obvious risks to our cover, and he and I weren't... supremely close. He was a good student, respectable, and he... I'm confident he'd feel as ashamed as I do.”

X tipped his head. “With the new situation, I have less reason to be so stingy about who fights these Mavericks. Neon Tiger and the others will be back online soon, more over. I just have to ask you: are you sure your head will be in the game?” He slowly shook his head. “I wouldn't be very stable if it was... Alia, for example?”

Barrel's agitation did get mitigated by X admitting his own conflicts in an equal case. “It'll be in it enough. I need to help stop him. And I know you understand how important is to keep _him_ alive. I want to help you do it.”

X offered a little smile, and nodded again. “Alright, fair enough.” More grave, he added, “Just don't forget that some of you have forced me to tear your bodies apart in disturbing ways to actually stop you. You'll be okay with that?”

“As long as his personality drive is intact, I won't question you.” Barrel offered his hand.

X took it, and they shook.

* * *

Zero squinted toward the quarry from his cover position. Colonel was fully in cover near him, and dozens of Hunters were arrayed along the perimeter line that Barrel and his squad had been monitoring some hours previous.

“Enough mechaniloids to look imposing, but they're right, this isn't enough to believably hold. Something's up.”

Colonel glanced up to him. “Do you agree with the Commander's assessment after all, sir?”

Zero shrugged. “That we need more intel before committing a huge portion of our forces to a subterranean battle? Of course. That X and Barrel are the only pair best equipped for the deep recon? No. Which is why we're going to engage those perimeter forces once X and Barrel are inside, to keep things distracted. Once they are, you and I are going to go after X and Barrel to make sure we don't rely on reports for information.”

Colonel raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “At your word, sir.”

//They're teleporting in now, sir,// Iris affirmed on their private Squad 00 line.

* * *

X and Barrel formed out of teleportation globules, X already brimming with energy before his colors snapped green and he vanished into a shimmer of air. Barrel smirked a bit, and then quickly spin-drilled into the terrain, rushing toward a cave entry that served as the main access to the mine complex below.

X flitted between several cargo hauling mechaniloids, then some of the fliers and spike-wheel defenders as he descended some distance, letting his enhanced sensors track the seismic path of Barrel digging along with him.

//You are surprisingly stealthy for rapid digging through solid rock,// X chimed to his partner.

//Hey now, our fight under Sigma was open air stuff. I have some talents!//

They both privately chuckled, but stopped grim as their path opened up into a massive underground complex.

X's optics sharpened, his sensors realigning to gather visual data more specifically. //Barrel, this looks like a giant killbox.//

//Because it is,// Barrel affirmed as he finally popped out between crags some distance to X's right, peering out. //Those 'supports' along the different levels' ceilings? Rigged to blow loose. And the floor surfaces in at least a dozen places of this cavern look suspicious. Like they were laid loose over spikes or something along those lines.//

And then alerts flared across the entire cavernous chamber, and mechaniloids began to swarm up through smaller paths as well as the path X and Barrel were hiding on either side of like insects ravenous for prey.

//What the--!?// Barrel blurted out as he ducked tightly into cover.

X shifted channels, //Maverick Hunters, the mine just went to full alert!//

Zero's voice responded, //That's because we just hit their entire perimeter at the same time. Should buy our recon team some breathing room, hm?//

There was a hint of dry humor in that grim response, and it caused Barrel and X to share a look across the pouring swarm of mechaniloids that hadn't caught them yet.

Shifting to a squad-only channel, X said to Barrel, //Well, it's a mess now, let's go!//

Barrel nodded sharply, and drilled back in before X started flitting down in camouflage.

* * *

In Maverick Hunter HQ's command center, Alia frowned firmly as she flew her fingers over keys to send out tactical updates to the various squads on the ground. “Iris, I take it that was Zero's idea?” she called over in a tight tone.

Iris winced. “Yes, ma'am. I was under orders to keep mission objectives classified outside squad 00.”

Alia rolled her optics, and then called over more casually, “Dex, check for seismic anomalies over the entire combat theater, please! I seriously doubt Tunnel Rhino is just going to let us mop up his entire mechaniloid force.”

Dex nodded, shifting his console to different screens and reports. “Copy! Baselines within green zone at the moment, but that terrain is not stable, ma'am!”

Iris felt compelled to add, “I am sorry, ma'am...”

Alia quickly replied, “Squad 00 is outside the chain, you obeyed orders. I'm just not going to pretend I like it.”

Signas, just some distance behind at the holotable, added, “Nor do I.”

Iris wilted a bit as she kept data flowing to Zero and Colonel especially. “...I understand.”

* * *

Barrel jerked back at the entrance of a service tunnel as a mechaniloid gate burst out of the surface at his feet, and slammed across.

//X, I'm exposed! Mech-gate!//

//Copy! On my way--//

//No, stay out of sight! This might draw Rhino out.//

Barrel charged kinetic energy over his arms, and rammed them forward, tearing and melting the gate apart in a quick spiral. He dove through, charging along, and leapt out of the tunnel's other end, just over three spike-wheels trying to rush to the alert point.

Barrel fired backwards, blowing up the three wheels with a drill-shield, and slammed down to his haunches in a larger, open chamber, his optics sharpening.

The cavern was stone silent, save the distant rumble of the battles overhead.

“...Rhino, I know you're out there!” Barrel called as he started to pace slowly to one side. “I know it's an infection. We can help you get rid of it!”

He snapped his gaze to his foot at one step, watching the ground start to crumble. He immediately back-vaulted as a pit collapsed out, exposing steel spikes below.

Barrel's optics flared as he heard ground cracking behind him, still midair himself. He twisted, charging drill-shields over his arms, but a spinning, physical drill the size of his own arm came ripping out of the ground, and tore through his right arm like so much dirt.

Barrel roared in pain, twisting back, his right arm falling away the opposite direction from an obliterated shoulder socket.

Tunnel Rhino, a behemoth of a Reploid, was mid-lunge with his drill-capped arm, and was spin-twisting with his treadmill-equipped feet inside of Barrel's fall. This let Rhino elbow-ram Barrel down into the ground with a crash of metal and a pained grunt.

Rhino more calmly finished his spin, and leaned down so his drill-horned face could glare straight into Barrel's optics. “You act like you know me. Let's get under that face and see, shall we!?”

Barrel angled his head back as the arm-drill revved up near his face. “You'll be ashamed of this,” was all he said, his tone almost soft.

Tunnel Rhino twitched faintly, then grimaced... and then roared, rearing up in renewed fury, diving down with his drill arm. It would obliterate Barrel's head entirely.

A shock-burst of a buster blast filled the air, and Barrel saw a flash of blue-pink light before Rhino's arm was rammed off target, and drove into the ground at Barrel's shoulder.

X stood about ten meters off, his right-arm buster still steaming from the shot, and his expression grim. “Tunnel Rhino. Stand down, and you will not be harmed. Otherwise, get the hell away from my friend.”

* * *

Zero finished dashing through a wave of mechaniloids, holding his saber with both hands as his ponytail lashed up. They started to explode as he lifted his eyes, assessing the battle. A giant ring of explosions and flying metal surrounded the mine as the Hunters closed around the mechaniloid defenses.

Colonel appeared out to his left, dropping a cannon-walker in half with a dropping slash. “Sir! The battle goes well enough, it seems!”

Zero nodded, somewhat distant. “Too well, honestly. Nothing heavier is responding to a full-on assault.

Iris chimed in via comms, //Sir, X and Barrel are too deep for normal comm activity, but seismic activity has intensified at the deepest level of the mine. Irregular rhythm would indicate a fight.//

Zero frowned. “So they're engaged, but we don't know how heavily. Let's--!?”

He cut himself off as his optics snapped to a couple of flickering shapes rushing down to the mine entrance.

“Colonel! Tunnel Rhino is getting back-up; let's do the same for X!”

“With you, sir!”

As they both jet-boosted toward the center of the mine, Zero touched his audioreceptor, “Alia! Dex! I think Maverick reinforcements are heading X and Barrel's way! Colonel and I are closing, but you need to try to warn X!”

//Zero, adjust your comm to tight-beam mode, and change the spread to 500%!// Alia returned instantly.

Zero did so, trusting her decisions, but then asked, “What did that do?”

//You're now a comm hub, a signal booster. I'll use you to try reaching comms deeper into the mine. Keep going!//

“Copy that! Colonel, stay on my tail!”

“Of course, sir!”

* * *

Tunnel Rhino narrowed his optics at X, then suddenly revved his left foot's treads, letting him spin-drop-kick Barrel up toward the other Reploid, Barrel barking in pain as he was sent flying.

X revved his sensors to their painful extreme, and dove into a full-speed thruster-dash while his colors and busters reconfigured.

X aimed up first, his colors purple, and fire a chain-shot grapple to Barrel. It yanked with slack, jerking on but not halting Barrel instantly. It slowed his momentum and spun him, letting Barrel crash to his haunches, but upright.

However, before Barrel had even landed, X's colors snapped again, and he fired shotgun ice blasts at Rhino.

Tunnel Rhino laughed, though he did have to pause his movement to bash and swipe the shots away. “Extreme temperatures come with mining work, X! You should know better!”

X diverted out to his right, and Barrel aimed with his working arm to fire off a drill-shield.

Rhino deflected the drill with his normal arm, his optics tracking X as he twisted, but Barrel sharpened his gaze. The plating was scuffed by the drill, less glistening and clean.

Rhino, meanwhile, braced down, and the drills on his shoulders and nose revved up before suddenly rocketing out as projectiles, which were instantly reloaded from inside his body. The drills all curved and arced through the air, closing in on X very much like homing missiles.

“You can't kill me, and my tornado fangs will tear you to shreds, X!”

X sharpened his optics, still in pain from his sensors... but entirely worth it, as it made twist, flip, and roll dodging the three missiles almost child's play for him. They all burrowed fast into the hard ground around him.

//X, it's a coating of some kind.//

X paused, but he successfully made it look like he was just assessing Rhino, pacing slowly around the Maverick as Rhino leered with satisfaction, apparently confident in his invincibility.

//Chemical compound that resists thermal shock?//

//Exactly,// Barrel continued, //My drill-shield stripped some small bits away, but it won't be terribly effective.//

X frowned slowly. //I have an idea, but there's too many unknowns that would put his personality drive at risk. I need to do some field tests, but it'll ruin any chance of surprise working. Can you help keep him busy with your pain?//

//Let me worry about my pain. I'm here to help. Just need his eyes my way?//

//Multiple times. He's going to refocus on me as I test a weapon.//

//Copy.//

X's colors suddenly snapped to green and yellow hues, his busters transforming into some kind of liquid compound sprayers.

Rhino braced, abruptly quite serious rather than cocky, and then tread-dashed to his right as X fired at him.

X deliberately only aimed for an extremity regardless, and Rhino successfully dodged the sphereical blob of acid X had launched. It arced high, rushed down, and splashed thickly across the rock... steam billowing out as it ate away the minerals into gases and liquids far more toxic.

Barrel took his cue, and fired rapidly as he strafed opposite X. Rhino took a few harmless blasts to his back, and twisted to snap off tornado fangs from his shoulder.

While Barrel dove behind a boulder, letting it warp the fangs' paths, X dash-leapt over the acid-hole he'd made, his optics scanning it with his full sensor array.

 _It corroded the stone to a depth of fifty centimeters, but didn't spread much beyond the original globs diameter. So it eats faster than it can splash, but it eats so fast..._ He landed, twist diving out of a tornado-fang volley himself as Rhino tried to keep him pinned down. //Barrel, I think it'll work, but I have to hit the sides of his body, not center mass, or the risk is too great!//

Rhino became a missile launcher in the center of their battle, constantly firing off fangs at both Reploids trying to fight him.

Barrel ducked, then dive-rolled out of cover to finish dodging his latest volley. //I wish I had a safer idea, but I really don't! I trust you, X. Getting his attention!//

Rising out of the roll, Barrel braced. “Rhino! It's _me_ ,” and he altered his voice. He flawlessly knew the sound pattern of his original voice, as only a Reploid could. He sounded like Armored Armadillo again. “I know you can fight this! We can help you!”

Rhino twisted at him, his optics flaring in a strange kind of manic rage at the voice change. He also shivered, unable to attack.

X twitched, pausing. It was a flawless distraction, but if the real Rhino was actually fighting off the infection with the reminder of his old comrade, X didn't want to turn that into a lie. //He might be breaking loose!//

Barrel kept his weapon down, despite the risks, for similar reasons to X. “The help is real, Rhino. It's not a lie. If you stand down, you WILL be free of it! Secured for a brief time, but then free again, I swear to you!”

Tunnel Rhino remained frozen, shivering, for a moment more, but this started to sneer into a grimace, shaking more violently... and finally roared as he started to blaze toward Barrel with thrusters popping out of his back and treads revving so hard they pitched dirt geysers up in his wake. Worse, his entire frame started to glimmer and glisten in strange, rainbow hues, something causing his chemical layer on his armor to react vibrantly.

X's optics widened, and he suddenly rocketed forward, staining the air with his shape from his speed. Two globs of acid flew out at Rhino's shoulders from the back, but X shot past his own attacks, curved around Rhino, and swept toward Barrel, who was just starting to dive aside... too slowly.

X side-twisted at the end of his sweep, thruster-kicking Barrel in the flank, while raising his right buster up to the right to meet Rhino's diving primary drill.

As Barrel flew out in surprise, Rhino's drill slammed into and _through_ X's buster, shearing it apart like kindling. Yet X didn't scream. His optics flared with red light, but he thruster-boosted himself as if he could leap off empty air, and flipped further out to Rhino's opposite side from Barrel.

Then the acid splashed over Rhino on both sides, but something in the glowing chemical layers just made the acid sizzle and splash down into the rock below.

//--can hear this, Zero is close!//

It was Alia's voice suddenly breaking across the X-Hunter line for both Reploids.

X braced with his left buster. “Barrel, say nothing!”

Barrel clamped his jaw shut, reconfiguring his voice again, while X fired a couple more acid blasts.

They sizzled off Rhino, but after they did, Rhino charged at X... his colors fading back to normal.

And part of the rocky wall exploded out around Zero and Colonel the next second, both of them ripping past Tunnel Rhino with swiping blades.

Rhino braced his arms up, the energy blades sparking off his special armor, and his drill started to rev up for launch. “More the merrier!” he bellowed with a vicious tone.

A thruster-blast sounded, and everyone blinked, looking up.

X was twist-flipping over the battle, aiming down at Rhino from the apex of his arc. “Zero, Colonel, MOVE!” and he fired twice.

The two dashed backwards, Rhino firing his volley up at X, but it was around the acid globs. X madly twisted and writhed between the them mid-air... and Rhino's shoulders were hit.

Rhino gave the most awful wailing roar of pain and shock as the acid chewed down through is shoulders so fast it kept spilling on down, chewing into his legs as well.

In seconds, X landing off to one side, grimacing at his actions, Rhino fell to the ground as little more than a torso, roaring and writhing from the sensor overload.

Barrel made an ill groan. “Light's mercy, please put him in stasis...”

X started to run forward, but Zero and Colonel shot in, and stabbed down in unison... perfectly on either side of Rhino's personality drive and buffer system. It triggered emergency stasis, and the body shut off at last.

Colonel glanced around, taking note of the damage... and how little complaint the two wounded Reploids were making of their wounds.

Zero eyed X for longer, especially the mostly missing lower right arm. “...Looks like we got here just in time...”

X looked to Zero for a moment, then back down to Rhino. “Command codes. He'll have them. Shut down the defenses before someone else gets hurt?”

Zero raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Colonel, escort these two to teleport range, they need medical.” He started to crouch down at Rhino.

“You'll get the drive and buffer to Dr. Cain, right?” Barrel had to check.

X glanced at him, but only that, moving to join Colonel.

Zero blinked up at Barrel. “...Of course, he's another victim of the infection, now that he's neutralized as a threat.”

Barrel nodded, and moved to join X and Colonel himself, holding his severed shoulder mildly.

Zero watched them leave the cavern as he retrieved the codes from Rhino's cortex, and caught a glance back from X. A very analytical one.

_What did we interrupt?_

* * *

//X, how you healing up?//

He smiled physically. //Alia, good to hear your voice. And fine. I do need to ask you a favor, though.//

Her tone was mildly softer, perhaps self conscious with the start of his response. //Go ahead?//

//Can you confirm Zero got the personality drive for Rhino to Dr. Cain, and that he's getting rebuilt to join the others? If I try to dig directly, it will just set off alarms.//

Alia gave a soft sigh on the comm. //You need to learn to rest mentally as well as physically, you know that?//

//...This will help me rest easier...?//

//You're lucky I think you're cute, X. I'll update you when I have data.//

//Thank you, Alia.//

The line disconnected, and X looked down inside the repair pod, his arm being reconstructed from design plans inside his own systems. He was glad that his designs were so data-dense they couldn't be fully copied. But then, that inability to copy was probably the gap in the Reploid designs that allowed the virus to have such massive effects.

He looked up into nothing for a moment. _Dr. Light protects me, but it's not a silver bullet. I have to hit the exact target... So I have to figure out how..._

* * *

Neon Tiger looked down at his hand as he slowly flexed the digits. “...I actually feel like myself again...” Even with his clear relief, there was a hint of gravity pulling on his emotions.

Gravity Beetle glanced toward Tiger from leaning against a bulkhead in their secured quarters for the time being. “Just in time for the guilt to come crashing in?”

Blast Hornet lounged back, side-eyeing the two of them from a simple couch on the far side. “Virus puppetry is a very real threat to Reploids. I can only be made to feel so bad.”

Tiger frowned over at Hornet, but didn't voice argument.

Blizzard Buffalo opened his optics to look across the room. He was apparently meditating in some way, folded down onto the floor, though his raw bulk kept him near equivalent height to the others. “My guilt is focused on my inability to fight from within effectively. However, it also showed me parts of myself I had been blind to. Perhaps by understanding them, I will not be so weak next time?”

And Acid Seahorse lifted his head from a table in the corner. “Preachy, but yeah, I was... shown parts of myself during that insanity.” He looked down again. “I'm glad Depthcharge survived the fight.”

At last, the door hissed, and they all straightened and stood to attention. Signas stepped down into the room, joined by Dex.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Signas greeted with an apparently sincere smile, glancing around with little nods to each of them.

“Appreciated, Commander, but may we be updated on our fate? Are we to be locked in the stockade pending review...?” Blizzard Buffalo responded directly.

Signas twisted his smile with a touch of wry humor. “I appreciate cutting to the heart of it, Blizzard Buffalo. After extensive testing...” he trailed as he turned to Dex and gestured out.

Dex stepped around the room, handing each Reploid a datapad.

Signas continued, “Dr. Cain's authority has been stamped on your full recoveries. You can choose to rejoin the Maverick Hunters, or retire to civilian life after enduring such trials. If you choose to retire, please understand that your weapon systems will be permanently deactivated or uninstalled.”

It was clear that all of the recovered Mavericks were in some degree of shock as Dex returned to Signas' side. Signas didn't try to rush responses, standing by, glancing across them smoothly.

Neon Tiger finally lowered his copy of the datapad, and saluted. “Eager to serve, sir. More so than ever.”

“Here, here,” Gravity Beetle offered with a firm nod.

“I owe a debt,” Acid Seahorse added, saluting.

Blizzard Buffalo simply saluted again.

Blast Hornet smirked, chuckling, and buzzed his wings a bit. “I don't do well without my tinkering. I'm still on board, sir.”

Signas returned the saluted. “Welcome back to active duty, each of you. Please assist Dex with a general intel debrief. We understand memories are likely muddied, but if you happen to recall anything about Doppler forces or activity, it is obviously of paramount importance.”

Dex simply moved back to the door, waiting calmly.

The Reploids all saluted again, and simply filed into Dex's wake without further comment.

Signas was left alone for a moment, and he bowed his head with a faint smile. “...Hopefully a taste of many similar redemptions.”

* * *

X stood before the heavy-repair pod, a grim shadow hanging over his face all the while. Inside the pod, Tunnel Rhino was being rebuilt, his original frame recovered after a quarantine check. The acid-melted parts that still physically existed were being removed bit by bit, and replaced with clean, new components.

X etched it into his memory. He tried to actively imagine the agony Rhino had to suffer through with each piece he saw pulled away.

The simultaneous fact of hating what he'd done, and knowing he'd do it again out of necessity corroded his own core. All he could hope was to find a better solution next time... But would he?

X glanced down at one of his arms, configuring it into a buster for a moment of hateful contemplation... then reverting it as he looked back to Rhino for his vigil.

“I'm starting to realize I don't actually understand you.”

X twitched his optics, but didn't turn. “Understanding someone is a rare gift, Zero. I'm not sure I fully understand anyone.”

Zero drew up on X's right, watching Tunnel Rhino's rebuild as well. He was serious, but not as grim as the one on his left.

“We don't trust each other.”

“No.”

A sad, faint laugh echoed between them. At least they could be honest to some degree.

Zero cycled his respirator. “We know you're up to something off-book. It'll go badly for you after Dopplertown is resolved, assuming we succeed.”

X tightened his optics, but didn't actually feel shock at the revelation. Zero's investigation was inevitably going to give them enough to act against him. “Fair enough. I appreciate the heads-up.”

Zero side-glanced his old comrade. “I figured you were naive, but you play your cards so close to your chest, I don't actually know anymore.” He looked ahead again. “If you give us a reason to trust you, we can probably stop wasting resources investigating you.”

“And I can't, so I won't ask you to go against your ethics.”

The response was instant, calm, and certain.

Zero frowned, glanced down, and more quietly asked, “What do you need their personality drives for, X?”

X tilted his head slowly, his optics scanning over Rhino's wounds even more intently for a moment. “...Hope.”

Zero became both troubled and confused, rather than angry, and looked up to X directly. “Hope for what?”

X didn't look away from Rhino. “Hope that all this suffering has an end, and we can walk away from this fight without putting the entire world at risk.”

“Don't you think that's something Dr. Cain and I would help with?”

X finally looked to Zero, a calm gravity to it that actually did send some ice up Zero's back. “You killed Mac, Zero. He was probably infected. You don't share my hope.”

Zero's optics tightened slowly. “...And Dr. Cain?”

“Is so guilty about Mavericks existing, he will take desperate action to end it. Desperate action will kill innocent people.”

“And you're not desperate?”

“I'm not perfect, Zero. I don't pretend to be. But for all the risks I've taken, I consider sharing my intel with you two too great a danger. I'm sorry.”

Zero finally showed some anger, but he didn't lash out. He was mostly furious because he could tell X was sincere. X hated not trusting them. He didn't, but he hated it.

“...You know you're starting to look Maverick, right?”

X nodded calmly. “To you two, I have to.”

Zero clenched his fists, but cycled his respirator, and started to turn. “...When you first started fighting, I was afraid you'd die. Too untrained, too naive. ...Now, I'm just afraid of what you're turning into.”

X looked back to Rhino, his optics watering. “...So am I.”

Zero paused, looking back to X with a form of shock. Then he turned grave. “...You know I'll kill you if you force me to, right?”

X just nodded. Without hesitation.

“Rather than just tell me?”

“...We're all putting our lives on the line for the future, Zero.”

Zero sharpened his gaze. X had more carefully considered those words than the others. He shook his head, and then started for the door again. “I wish we could still be friends, X.”

“...Me too.”

The door shut in Zero's wake.


	8. Raw Voltage

Dr. Doppler clenched his beard in a fist, slowly dragging his hand off of it. His optics were glaring solidly at Bit and Byte. “All this time, and all you bring me is excuses?”

Bit shifted uncomfortably. “We screwed up at the cryo facility, but he's been diving headlong into all this stuff so fast we haven't had a chance to properly set him up.”

Byte frowned, “He wasn't supposed to have so much help.”

Fiery plasma gushed out of Doppler's shoulders and out from his labcoat as his optics glowed from their cores. “WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT EXCUSES!?”

The two designed Reploids eased back a step each.

“You know the master has no patience for this. X is a naive, overly loyal CHILD! He has so many weaknesses it's inexcusable he's gotten this far!”

Bit finally showed some frustration, “All of his friends are never alone enough to ambush properly! If you want us to exploit his main weakness, we need a distraction big enough to get someone alone!”

Doppler narrowed his optics, and then snapped a hand down to a comm interface at a terminal near him. “Volt Catfish, come in?”

A strangely rippled voice, deep and guttoral, returned shortly.

“What do you need, Doctor?”

“My useless strike team needs help. A massive distraction. Can you deliver?”

In a dark, dimly lit chamber elsewhere, a huge mouth slowly spread into a malicious grin as beady optics flickered in screenlight. “Oh, but of course. I can deliver immediately. When do you want it?”

Doppler slowly stared at his two henchmen.

“...Give us two hours to setup,” Bit offered quietly.

“Two hours, Volt.”

“Timer started.”

* * *

Dex stretched his servos a bit while blinking his optics at his station. Doppler Town activity was awkwardly stable for the moment. He allowed himself to flick one of his smaller displays to security footage from inside HQ. It showed the recently recovered Hunters, Gravity Beetle and company, doing a refresher session of training in the simulator.

Iris appeared near Dex's station a moment later, datapad in hand. “Dex, have you seen these...?” she trailed off as she realized how distracted he was, glancing to the display. “...Worried about them still being maverick?”

Dex blinked, glancing up to her. “What? No, no. Just... verifying something for myself. What do you need?” He half-turned his chair to look up at her expectantly.

Iris tilted her head, now curious what he meant, but she handed over the datapad. “EM scans show a reduction in power coming from their main energy facility.”

Dex's optics showed a frown over his plated face. “...How did I miss that? Slagging...” he grumbled as he turned back to his station, but he paused with a fresh glance to the security feed.

It showed Gravity Beetle and Quickman. They shared a glance as Quickman was going over something about the simulator, and then they shared a quick forearm tap. Dex huffed a mild laugh, and then shut off the feed as he pulled up the data Iris had copied for him.

Iris didn't miss a spec of this odd moment, but didn't comment. Instead, she waited as Dex looked over the fresh data himself.

“...Their power station must be working on something huge. I can't think of anything else that would call for this behavior.”

Iris nodded. “That's my fear as well. You agree we should notify the commander?”

Dex was actually reaching for the comm controls as he nodded, when the readout spiked violently into red zones, the data going crazy.

“Light's Labcoat!” Dex blurted in shock, Iris just gawking wide-eyed at the data.

Dex slammed his hand down onto the alert signal instead, HQ filling with sirens and red light before he quickly announced over the comms, “ALERT! Power surge at the Doppler Town energy facility! Scramble!”

* * *

Signas stared at the holodisplay of the power facility only moments later. The entire structure was crackling with power, the towers of it surging like jacob's ladders. “How quickly can we got squads over there!?”

Alia looked back from her console. “The EM field is insane from all that power, we can't send teleportation fields into it! Safe distance is a quarter mile from the facility!”

Dex narrowed his optics at the feed he was getting. “Wait, the pattern is shifting in the surge itself! It's... It's about to redirect the entire surge toward the city!”

Alia and Iris instantly snapped to verifying that.

“He's right!” Iris cried in dismay. “The charge shift is going to send all of it this direction, and the sheer power could actually make the distance!”

Signas glanced to Alia, who just nodded urgently.

“Do we have anything capable of shielding against that level of energy?” Signas finally asked, his voice weaker.

Airstrike's voice came over the comms, “It's an electrical discharge right? Give me remote control of one of the cruisers in dry dock! It has no staff! That weapon can't possibly fire quickly.”

Signas' optics widened. “Use it as a shield, then send in the squads, yes! Alia, get him a cruiser!”

Zero's voice crackled over the comms next. “Sacrifice an entire cruiser as a one-shot shield?”

“Give me a better solution before you deploy, and I'll use it!” Signas snapped back quickly.

X's voice returned next, “Squads are ready to teleport to the minimum distance, sir!”

* * *

Airstrike ran down one of the HQ hallways swarming with red lights, and dove into a control pod as Alia's magic linked it into one of the cruiser's systems. “Got it, Alia.”

“Hurry! It's going to snap across the gap in twenty seconds!”

Airstrike didn't waste time replying, and instead made the cruiser haul itself out of drydock above the city in a violent, veering turn. It burst into max thrust while still spinning, and spiraled into a controlled arc down toward Doppler Town.

And just then the massive electrical storm over part of Doppler Town surged up, bent toward the central city, and then ripped across like a massive sheet-lightning catastrophe.

The cruiser barrel-rolled down into the crest of the lightning wave, and once a point of contact was hit, that instant the entire surge channeled down into it with a thunderclap that made the ground quake.

The cruiser blew apart, some of it reduced to molten metal, other parts sent flying off like comets.

Airstrike grimaced as his controls went dead. “Alia, the debris will be a problem! I'll get to the teleporter array!”

* * *

In the command center, Signas snapped a hand toward Iris, “Emergency services to the areas hit by ship debris! Alia, Dex, get our entire force other than base-defense over to that station _now_!”

Alia snapped her hands over her controls rapidly.

“Emergency services dispatched. It's a wide area, sir!”

“Understood,” Signas simply muttered, glaring at the display of the facility.

Alia finally updated, “All squads teleporting now, sir!”

“Light help them if that thing's ready to fire faster than we think.”

Alia looked back to her console with grim anxiety, and tried to keep the data flowing.

* * *

Dozens of teleport streams shot down on the perimeter of the power station, which was still crackling with power, though much less than before it fired. Zero whipped his saber out, and started to dash forward with Colonel in his wake as he quickly spoke into comms.

“The spires around the perimeter of the structure itself! We need to bring them down so it can't fire again! Squad per tower should help keep time down!”

X flickered forward among several other Hunters on a different part of the advancing force. “He's right, but we also need to take out the core systems. I'll head inside. Might be able to shut Volt Catfish down before this thing fires again!”

Zero narrowed his optics, but didn't bother arguing this time.

Airstrike took off from his position on his jet-thrusters from inside his back, while Inferno, and Deepfreeze rushed after him. Deepfreeze created an ice-wave to let them slide along even faster, while Airstrike was already landing on the upper portion of the first towering spire.

Quickman flickered along, and up one of the other towers, with Shimmer, Depthcharge, and Barrel scrambling along in his distant wake, Barrel already starting to power-dig through parts of the spire trying to weaken it.

Turbo raced along similar to Quickman, while Tripwire sent grappling wires out for himself, Spikesaw, and Snapvice, latching onto high portions of a third tower, and zipping up together.

Blast Squirrel shot along to a fourth spire, while Pyrostrike, Mapteron, and Warp Turtle climbed or magnet-gripped along.

“The spire structures are strong, we have to blow out reinforced metals across a twenty meter diameter!” Warp Turtle quickly shared across the entire Hunter force.

Airstrike responded, “He's right, this isn't coming down easy, even with demolitions!”

Dr. Cain's voice actually chimed in, “Do everything you can, Maverick Hunters. We can't let that facility fire again!”

Storm Owl and Wing Pegasus confirmed their squads were on the remaining towers, but having similar issues, and would do their best.

Pyrostrike paused for a moment mid-climb, glancing out and down to the rushing army going into the core of the facility. “...No defense mechaniloids or turrets...?” He frowned at the ominous realization, but looked back to his squad. This threat couldn't be ignored, even if it was a trap.

* * *

In the command center, Dex sharpened his optics at a small warning notice amidst the storm of data from the sudden warzone. “...Commander! The teleportation array is giving errors. We won't be able to recover our forces if it stays offline!”

Signas growled. “Did we take secondary hits from the energy surge?”

Iris quickly checked over a few things as her optics flickered between various feeds, including helping the Hunters on the ground find fracture points on the spires. “No, sir, it appears to just be awful timing on an equipment failure!”

Alia growled as well, and spun out of her station. “Dex and Iris have the battle in hand. I'll get that equipment working!”

Signas glanced to her as she ran for the doors. “...Alia, get a partner from the security squad.”

She paused awkwardly, but nodded. “Sir!” And she was on her way.

* * *

X skidded to a halt in a too-dark chamber, his optics tightening as his sensors used sonic and ultraviolet detection to map out a cavernous space beyond the hall he'd just left. All around it, other Hunters came running in, Zero and Colonel among them. The power surge outside was only a distant hum, like a storm across the horizon.

“This is the heart of the facility. No defenses, no control chambers,” X gravely commented into comms as he paced along, tense and wary.

Overload gave X a start as he stepped out to X's side. “Volt's clever, like I said. If we weren't trying to avoid a city-scale catastrophe, I'd be recommending we evacuate our forces...”

Zero tightened his grip on his Z-Saber. “No kidding. I can't decide which group the trap is more aimed for at this point. Tower squads, status?”

Pyrostrike returned on the comms, “We've done a few test blasts at weak points. Progress, but way too slow!”

Colonel pointed with his saber. “Sir, all our data indicates the power is streaming from the center of this space, but it can't be.”

And then a different voice boomed through the huge chamber.

“Oh, I wouldn't say that.”

Suddenly the center of the floor split open around a disc, and energy blasted up through the center to slam into the ceiling. The next instant the metal roofing began to fold down and collapse outward, all but melting away to expose the entire facility as a crackling energy channel up the same spires the squads were already on.

Airstrike jerked to a hovering halt mid-air, staring down at the power surge in the center, more and more power rippling up the spires. “Light save us... It's just a massive power converter...”

Warp Turtle braced on his spire as the wave ripped up across the squads. “Rgh... This is only a preliminary feedback cycle! If we don't destroy these spires immediately, we'll all be caught in the building phase!”

And down in the base of the energy pillar, Volt Catfish poured out, walking leisurely, his massive mouth peeling open into a grand smile. Power crackled over his body even passively.

“Welcome!” He swept his arms up. “Welcome, one and all! I've so been looking forward to having a _captive_ audience!”

With his shouted final words, he slammed one fist down into the floor, and the power surging in the center suddenly bulged out along the floor, engulfing him again, then exploded outward like a ring-wave.

X's eyes widened, and he tried to burst backward like most of the other Hunters, but the power wave ripped past him too fast for his mechanical ability.

Almost every Hunter on ground level pitched, writhed, roared in pain, and fell flat or to their hands and knees as their systems were all but overloaded in an instant. Sensors crashed, motors and servos shivered into lock up, weapons shorted or misfired.

Overload snapped his hands forward together, and his own electrical weapons created a kind of wedge in the wave of power at first. However, it only took seconds for his inability to ground safely to the flooring worked against him, and he slipped down to his knees. It was all he could do to avoid being locked in stasis.

X shivered on his knees, so overwhelmed by the shock of energy that all he could do was look up in pained realization as the power kept rising. It flew up along the spires. Airstrike and Blast Squirrel only managed to last a few seconds longer before the arcing cross-currents between the spires caught them, and they crashed down, barely catching onto pieces of the spires nearest them.

Zero groaned, forcing his one hand forward, trying to crawl toward Catfish. “He... is... the drive system! Have to...” But he couldn't. It was all he could do to lean forward onto his extended hand.

* * *

Signas slammed a fist into the display table showing him this disaster playing out as the comms sizzled and burst with interference. “Can any of our defense turrets be configured to fire that far away?”

Iris shook her head as her hands scrambled over controls, trying to find some means of bypassing power surges or noncritical systems to help her brother, Zero, and the others. “No, sir! Even pushed to overload, they wouldn't close more than half the distance! They're just defense cannons!”

Dex was equally frantic in his operator checks. “What she said! I'm seeing if I can use the city's power grid to soak some charge, and maybe lessen the damage, but nothing seems to able to reroute enough to avoid catastrophic damage anyway!”

Signas growled, a hand reflexively gripping at his own saber. Then he paused, and lifted it to look at the weapon hilt. “...Soak the charge. Dex!” he snapped his optics to the plated operator, “The comm array on the roof! Could it be modified to redirect energy? Aim it away from the city?”

Dex blinked. “...Turn the raw surge into a beam, act as a firing mechanism, I get it! Checking schematics and composition!”

Iris switched her tasking without being prompted. “It only has a 30% chance to last more than 3 seconds, but it's better than our alternatives, sir!”

Dex pointed to her, running more prep instead of wasting time repeating.

Signas nodded sharply. “That's our fallback, get it ready!”

* * *

Alia ran in to the teleporter array chamber with Cadis jogging along in her wake, the younger Hunter's rifle strapped to her back and her target screen active over one optic.

“Isn't the timing suspicious?” Cadis checked as she followed Alia over to the main console, which the operator was already starting to open up and check hardware for.

“Of course, but to get access to this area requires high clearance. I don't really want to think about the implications of that mid-crisis!”

Even explaining that, Alia was already popping off wires, checking components, and as Cadis nodded to her words, Alia suddenly stopped, holding a circuit board with very clear plasma scorching on it.

“...This was shot.”

Cadis snapped her rifle into her hands, starting to pan it around the room, but two things happened that same instant, and she simply hadn't been aiming the right direction for them.

A ring of crimson energy slammed into Cadis edge-on, and somehow reoriented itself through her, snapping her arms down while throwing her against the back wall with a grunt.

And Alia suddenly yelped, flying backward by unseen force. She slammed sharply, but with utterly no rebound, onto some disc-like device on the wall some meters from Cadis.

“M-magnetic...?” Alia assumed, glancing around urgently to assess what was attacking them.

Bit stepped out from one side of the array, Byte the other.

Bit chuckled slowly. “And here we were just hoping to get some captives to make one of you come negotiate. Instead, we get precisely the two we need right off the bat. Oooh, this is beautiful.”

Cadis and Alia both squinted despite the urgency of their situation.

“What do you need us for...?” Cadis had to voice it.

Byte slammed a fist into the wall over Alia's head, leaning down into her face. “Bait.”

* * *

Iris paused her work awkwardly as she reached up to touch her comm receiver. Signas, Dex, the rest of the command center crew, and even the Hunters being shocked into stasis at the power facility all heard the voices coming over the comms.

“Maverick Hunter X,” Bit began.

“We have your precious friends that you abandoned back at your base,” Byte added.

And Volt Catfish joined them, “And if you want them back, you have to surrender to me, right here and now!”

X's face twisted. First, he was disbelieving, but then the lack of Alia's voice on the comm became all too clear to him. He crashed down to his hands, his brow shivering as his systems surged and adapted.

Overload glanced to him, grimacing against the surge and worry for their comrades both. “Hang on, X...”

Vents started to split open along X's flanks and back, power rushing into them. A rage instinct, a violent surge of frustration, made his emergency drive start to activate... the explosion that could erase everything around him.

He could absorb energy... but all he'd be doing is abandoning dozens of his allies to likely destruction even if he could teleport out uniquely.

And then Alia and Cadis' voices came over the comm.

“X, they want us to beg,” Alia started darkly.

“But don't do it!” Cadis spat out. “Don't let these murderers w--!?” she cut off a yelp from Bit punching her across the face.

Pyrostrike growled as he shivered in energy shock on the one spire with his squad. He could barely keep his hands locked onto the spire, yet alone move enough to help. _Alia... I'm sorry..._

Tripwire, despite his coils constantly flailing and functioning uncontrollably, narrowed his optics at the side of the pylon he was essentially stuck to. Cadis was in mortal danger, and he was useless...

X's hands slowly clenched... and actually dug into the armored metal beneath him. Energy stormed and surged all around him, just like every other Hunter, but when he lifted his head, his face was fractured into a furious outrage that both Overload and Zero saw from across the storming expanse.

It was murderous.

X roared... and all the energy around him suddenly snapped still... then began to pour into his systems like he was some kind of shaped drain moving through water.

X drove up to his feet, and started to move forward through the power storm.

Volt Catfish was startled, but then his optics narrowed. “They aren't the only ones you care for!” And he suddenly snapped one fist toward none other than Zero, and a concentration of the power surge started to rip toward the red Hunter like a thunderous ball.

“No!” Overload barked in despair.

Zero grimaced, and tried to brace so he could dodge out of the way... but everyone had to stop and stare at what happened the next instant.

The ball ripped out, and exploded... around X. X had just flickered into existence, mid-dash, body-blocking for Zero as the power drained away—into his body. He was practically glowing brighter than the storm around him already, his optics bleeding light out of their cores.

Both arms snapped into X-Busters as X started to slowly march toward Volt Catfish. “End this. Or I will.”

Volt Catfish growled slowly, and then braced down before dashing toward X, more and more power surging down over himself as well. “I don't break just because of complications, HUNTER!”

* * *

Bit seemed to frown, those his plated face made it hard to tell. “Things might get messy again, Byte.”

The two Mavericks abruptly reached out, Bit for Cadis, Byte for Alia, and grabbed the Reploids. One arm grappled each neck, pinning their backs against each Mavericks' front.

“Tick-tock, X!” Bit taunted into the comms. “And if your local friends try to barge into this room, we'll kill your precious ones anyway!”

Cadis and Alia remained tense, but also shared a glance across the few meters between them. Cadis' arms could barely move, but she still had her rifle gripped. Alia could form her buster, but she was still magnetically locked to Byte instead of the wall.

Byte growled, “He's not surrendering. We should kill one of them.”

Cadis urgently looked at Alia, then to her Alia's immediate left, and back again. Alia was confused for a beat, then lifted her eyebrows with realization. She gave a little thumbs-up down at her hip.

Bit started to lift a hand toward Cadis' head, but she suddenly wrenched back _into_ him, kicking up, aiming her entire body down at Byte. Bit was trying to rebalance in the same moment, and didn't see her hand shift until the sound of the sniper-rifle's blast was already resounding.

Byte's left shoulder snapped back violently, though his armor held against the impact. It was still enough for Alia to duck, twist, and scrape, snapping her buster arm out toward Cadis and firing once as well!

The shot seared past Cadis' face, and slammed straight into Bit's head with a pained shout.

Cadis roared as she exerted her servos, and actually broke free of the energy ring that bound her arms. With Bit still crashing backward, she locked her sights on Byte, who was just wrenching back down at Alia with a hammer blow.

Byte never landed his strike, instead taking several high-power blasts to his chest and far shoulder, making him stumbled back awkwardly as well.

Alia aimed her buster at Byte's head, Cadis snapping around to train hers onto Bit on the ground.

“Signas! We're loose! Backup appreciated!” Alia urgently reported into comms.

* * *

X didn't respond with words to Volt Catfish's shout. Both arms snapped up and fired, but his expression turned more grim as the plasma discharge was twisted, warped, and dispersed through the power storm that still pervaded the massive arena Catfish had created.

The Maverick sneered across his huge mouth, and then charged toward X, ramming his fists forward in turns, sending concentrations of power flying across the gap.

X dashed to meet him, colors shifting as he snapped off blasts of Ray Splasher, Storm Tornado, even Silkshot, but they all warped or were too disrupted by the insane charge in the air to fully lash out. Catfish ignored the few portions that managed to reach him, deflecting off his reinforced plating.

Finally the two met, their far fists slamming together while crackling with power, unleashing a charge-wave through the air between them.

They flew into a close-quarters barrage on each other, X flickering and blurring between strikes or blocks, Catfish simply taking some of the blows while swiping and ramming through X's position.

“Your comrades are running out of time!” Catfish reminded in a taunting melody.

X risked a glance around. Catfish wasn't lying. Several Hunters were already out, and even emergency stasis couldn't defend against such an absurd amount of charge in the air for much longer. Zero and the X-Hunters were the bulk of the forces still conscious, but none of them could really move. Colonel was hanging in beside his squad leader, but was clearly close to collapse.

Overload suddenly roared, wrenching his arms upward, power storming over his frame and branching off like a strobe-lit tree. “Buying... TIME!”

His voice distorted just before power erupted form his arm-weapons. The storm of energy throughout the tremendous arena of death Catfish had created pulsed, shimmering like water from Overload up through the tops of the spires in just a core-pulse.

Tripwire gasped, gripping harder as his systems regained some semblance of functionality while he hung perilously from the spire. He looked around fast, watching Mapteron finally get a secure grip, helping Warp Turtle do the same a moment later on the other spire.

Volt Catfish glanced around as his limbs locked with X briefly, then he glared at Overload. “You're spoiling my FUN!”

X growled as he ducked a swipe from Catfish trying to shove him back, and his colors snapped purple before a chain-claw burst toward Catfish's face. Catfish bit down onto the claw, laughed in his throat, and used his entire body to brace, wrench, and throw X off to his left.

X broke off his chain, flipped, twisted, and crashed down to a skid backwards, but his optics locked up on Catfish immediately.

_His system is supercharged, and his whole body has been modified to thrive in this storm of energy. Overload can't last much longer, and I can't punch Volt down quickly enough, but I need something that won't just destroy itself in this..._

X glanced down as he remembered Tunnel Rhino's oddly durable frame and tornado fangs...

And then the comms lit with Alia's call for backup. X almost wavered just from relief, then snapped back to grim focus as Catfish growled in frustration at the other half of the plan falling apart.

“Well, no matter!” Catfish roared across the storm. “I'll just put you in stasis with the rest of your army!”

The Maverick snapped his arms out, and drones flew out of his gaping mouth. The drones rushed into formation around him, and then started to channel the power in the air into a violently concentrated cage of electricity all around Catfish.

X's colors shifted, and his already overcharged body concentrated the Tornado Fang design into a transformation of his buster. In a split-second, he had a massive, reinforced, nonconductive power-drill in place of a lower arm.

Catfish charged, his awkward frame loping with impressive speed and force, while X flickered into a rocket-boosted dash straight for him.

Zero's eyes widened. “X, that's what he wants!”

Overload sagged sharply. “I'm... losing it... !”

X seemed to ignore his comrades, but it wasn't long before everyone still conscious saw why he was charging so brazenly.

As Catfish's cage of lightning struck X's body, X just lunged down full-force. Already surging with the power storm, his frame took the concentrated charge of the cage far better than it normally would have, and it did little to halt X's advance... with the power drill shredding down into Catfish's left shoulder joint, and nearly tearing down through to his hip as quickly.

Catfish's cage sputtered and the drones collapsed. “...You... really are... unstoppable...”

X yanked the drill out, his expression mingled in sorrow and simmering temper. Volt Catfish crashed to his side, falling into emergency stasis.

Wasting no further time on his emotional conflictions while his comrades were still dying, X ran forward, his busters reconfiguring into Tornado Fang launchers, and he boost-leapt high, firing a volley of drills down at the perimeter of the central power stream that had started this entire debacle.

The six drills punched through the flooring, and dug down fast and hard, hunting for the actual power core below the surface.

* * *

Bit roared as he dove for Cadis, but the sniper Hunter also dove out to his left, while Alia blaster-shot the Maverick in the chest mid-air. As Byte swept one large fist in at Alia's back, Cadis hit the ground, sliding on her shoulder, and fired into his forearm, knocking it back and away.

Bit hopped back to his feet, brushing scorching off his chest as energy bled off his forearms, becoming his blades. “So why aren't you two out in the field more if you're this good, hm?”

Alia didn't waste focus on his words, snapping around to fire into one of Byte's legs, knocking the relative giant down to one knee.

It was Cadis who responded, along with her rifle locking to aim on Bit's head. “Gotta have good marks to defend the base, dumb-ass!”

Bit managed to weave his head around her shot, and began to dash for her with his arms crossed, apparently aiming to dive _through_ her. “So be it!”

Cadis yelped, but also folded down onto her legs, her head falling back. It snapped her ponytail up past her face, and she watched several hairs get singed off by Bit's dive over her... and the end of her rifle barrel met the same fate.

She tucked and rolled away, giving her rifle a rueful glance before sliding it onto her back and whipping out a sidearm from her back armor, firing off a quick volley of blasts to keep Bit defensive for her recovery.

Alia was like a mad monkey as Byte tried to swipe or stomp on her. She dove, rolled, twisted, hand-flipped over his arm, looped around his head, and was always blasting her buster down into his armor.

“What are you made of!?” she finally shouted in frustration, leaping back with a blast at his face.

Byte wiped some of the scorch residue off his face as he rose up. “Only the best for Doppler's servants,” was his choice of reply with a grim smile.

And then the doors opened again.

Something flickered across, but Signas was leaping through the opening himself, purple saber blazing through the air over Cadis, toward Bit.

Bit was immediately slammed into a bracing block against Signas, who leaned down into the slightly smaller Maverick with a clearly furious expression on his angular face.

Alia was more surprised when she saw deep gashes appear in Byte's arms and side, before Dex actually appeared out to his side, clearly just halting from a dash-by.

“Dex!?”

His optics smiled quickly for her. “Been training with Quickman, you know?”

And then his forearms sprouted physical blades again, and he dove at Byte once more, slashing and sparking off the Maverick's reinforced body as Byte roared in frustration.

Cadis just cackled at the good of it, and started firing at Bit's legs while Signas pressed down into him all the more forcefully.

* * *

The beam of catastrophic power writhing upward past the clouds finally sputtered once, then fractured into looser sprays of sheet lightning along the spires, and then winked out of existence. Overload finally cut his systems and collapsed into a panting heap. The entire Maverick Hunter force was finally able to cycle their respirators and move again, though a few scattered individuals had been hit hard enough to be knocked into emergency stasis from the dangers of the energy surge to their internal systems before Overload could soften the blow.

Zero managed to rise to his feet, but he was clearly focused on X, who had landed from firing the tornado fangs that finally killed the generator far below, and the lone Reploid was just staring down at Volt Catfish's body.

“...X?” Zero called softly at first.

X jerked, his head twitching, and he snapped around with intense focus in his eyes. “Spire-teams, continue your mission! We need this place fully offline. I only took out the generator. Too easy to rebuild that.”

Various confirmations sounded on the comms, and sparks or energy blasts sounded from above as the squads on the towering spires focused back on tearing them down at key positions.

Overload eased onto his legs, still crouched. “Afraid I'm... spent.”

X managed a little smile for him. “You did more than I thought to, stay down, hm?”

Overload smirked, and let his head sag from the drain in his system.

Zero exhaled, then touched his comm. “HQ, status?”

Signas' voice replied this time, “Engaged with Maverick infiltrators! Bit and Byte! Teleporter room!”

Zero helped Colonel up to his feet as he replied, “Copy! Sending back up immediately!”

X looked to Zero. “The secondary teleporter array might be operational!”

Zero nodded, pulling his beamsaber. “Dr. Cain gave me codes to activate it remotely. You ready?”

X bowed his head. “Absolutely.”

* * *

Bit was dangerous and fast, but Signas and Cadis were both precise attackers. The Maverick was deflecting or blocking Signas' beamsaber with his right arm, while deflecting or dispersing Cadis' pistol shots with his left.

Byte seemed less troubled, but it was mostly due to his sheer size. Dex was still flickering and slashing sparks off his armor from all sides, punctuated by powerful, focused blasts from Alia at joints and optics.

Iris' voice shot across the internal comms a beat later. //Break away from the intruders in five seconds!//

It obviously left no time for discussion, but all four Hunters trusted Iris' know-how. Cadis dove aside to 'dodge' Bit's latest deflection, and Signas dashed back, while Dex rushed behind Byte, and Alia reformatted her arm to hand-flip the other way.

Just before Byte or Bit could launch a proper counter attack, the teleportation array itself burst with energy, and a shockwave snapped across the space, somehow directed just right, the cone of dispersal only wide enough to slam into the two Mavericks rather than any of the other Reploids in the battle.

Bit roared in pain, crashing to his knees while still surging over with overcharge, and Byte grabbed his head, trying to bear it and recover all the faster.

And before Signas or the others even had to press the attack again, the doors snapped open as Zero, Colonel, and X flew around Cadis and Signas, energy writhing over X, Colonel and Zero's swords blazing, and they filled into the formation with Alia and Dex.

Bit and Byte were haggard, drained by whatever overcharge Iris had manipulated, and now seriously out numbered.

“Stand down, and you won't be harmed further,” X ordered, his voice and expression quite grave, a buster trained on each Maverick.

“Believe me, he's offering you the best possible deal out of this mess,” Zero added, his blade burning the air near Bit's face.

There was a tense silence for a few seconds, then Bit and Byte shared a glance.

“Well, Byte... I was hoping to avoid thi--!?”

Bit didn't even get to finish. All of the Hunters started to rush forward, Zero flicking his sword to strike as fast as anyone could have, but a violent rush of green light engulfed both Mavericks, and then somehow dispersed out through the wiring embedded in the very walls of the chamber.

Alia snapped a hand to her ear. “Iris! Cut off the network wires for the building right now!”

Iris' more somber voice returned, “...Too late, sir. Whatever that datasurge was, it left our system within zero point five-six seconds.”

Though frustrated, everyone finally sagged a bit, sharing glances. Alia blinked at X's guilt-ridden expression toward her, and then realized what was wrong. She just smiled, and shook her head softly to him.

Signas straightened, deactivating his saber. “Hunters, report! Is the power facility neutralized?”

* * *

Back at the power facility itself, Warp Turtle slammed down to his haunches near Pyrostrike, who nodded, and they looked up as the other Hunters spread away from the towers, and filed into specific zones of the lower area. Overload was being helped to a waiting point by Mapteron and Shimmer.

Explosives and energy strikes erupted around key points of all the spires, Airstrike, Storm Owl, and Wing Pegasus all smiling with a certain satisfaction as they watched from above.

As Signas' call for a report sounded through comms, the spires crashed down like sand, dust and chunks of debris scattering out, but only along ground level.

Pyrostrike voiced the official response, “Commander, power facility is completely dismantled. Will take weeks to make it functional again.”

* * *

Signas nodded as he looked back to the others in the teleportation room. “Excellent work everyone. I want one squad to add that location to its patrol cycle, but I doubt they'll try to salvage much from it.” He went on for the others immediately around him, “Alia, Cadis, thank you. If you hadn't adapted and persevered, this may have been a tragic day.”

X lowered his eyes again.

Alia half-smiled. “We're all Maverick Hunters, we signed on for certain risks. Thanks for the back-up, all of you!”

Cadis grinned. “Seriously!” Then she ruefully lifted her rifle up. “Though my poor rifle made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Colonel chuckled. “Nonsense, it just needs medical.”

Everyone shared a soft laugh from relief for the most part, and then Alia shifted a little closer to X as the others started to asses the damage to the teleportation array.

“Hey...”

X blinked up at her, and then offered a small smile.

“You made the right call,” Alia chose to push forward quietly.

X was surprised again, then showed his sadness openly again. “...Did I?”

Alia nodded seriously. “How do you think I'd feel if you abandoned everyone else just to help me? We're a team, X, we help each other when we can. You helped me today by protecting the others.”

X's eyes were watering. “...You truly don't blame me for... not... coming?”

Alia touched his shoulder. “We're doing this to end the threat. We all care about that. It's part of our life. I don't blame you.”

X finally seemed to ease somewhat. “Thank you. I... Could we speak later? Not coming to your side is... not everything weighing on me.”

Alia smiled gently. “Of course. Let's get this place fixed up, and we'll talk as long as you need.”

He finally smiled properly, warm and soft, and she grinned back.

* * *

X finished welding some of the wall plating of the teleporter room into place, then leaned down with his hands on his knees. As his respirator cycle, steam and some crackles of energy vented from his torso along his spine and flanks.

“Still trying to discharge all that power you soaked up?”

X blinked up in surprise at Zero. “...Uh... yeah, basically. Can't do it quickly, or we'd need a new HQ.”

The two shared wan smiles at the dark humor.

“...I wanted to say thank you, without there being some other item on the agenda, for once,” Zero explained, somewhat abruptly, just gesturing out with a hand and a sorrowful expression.

X remained rather awkward. “Thanking me for what...?”

Zero smirked. “You really don't know?”

X glanced around, as if caught. “No...?”

Zero chuckled, and bowed his head for a moment, 'itching' at the back of his helmet casually. “You dove into an attack aimed straight at me.”

X lifted his eyebrows. “Why wouldn't I...?”

Zero looked into X's eyes for a moment. He was serious, analyzing, but not suspicious in this case. “Me out of the picture would simplify things for you, wouldn't it?”

X frowned, showing sadness himself now. “The day I let good people die for my own agenda is the day you need to put me down.”

Zero blinked. “...You sure I'm 'good people?'”

“Of course, you are.” X shook his head a little, incredulous. “You think I think you're evil? No, Zero. We disagree on a couple of fundamental topics. That means we'll have situations where we're opposed. I'll fight for what I think is right, but I'd never abandon you to dying unless I simply could not possibly help.”

Zero tilted his head. “Is that how you felt about Mac?”

X pressed his lips into a line, then nodded. “And Volt Catfish. All of them. It's an infection, Zero. We can help them.”

“And if I was infected?”

“I'd have to stop you, just like you'd have to stop me in the reverse,” X returned without hesitation.

Zero nodded a little. “I don't understand why you hide so much, X. Surely there's some common ground we could agree on?”

X showed his sadness again. “I can't risk being wrong on that.”

Which was telling, considering his values. Zero narrowed his eyes in thought, then just nodded again, and stepped over to move away.

“...You're welcome.”

Zero smirked over his shoulder, waved, and moved out of sight.

* * *

X rested his elbows on the banister of the rooftop railing, wind rushing around his helmet foils as he appreciated the relative safety of the city around HQ. For a moment, there was peace.

Stepping up gently behind him, Alia took a moment to just watch, the wind dancing with her hair. She lifted a hand to keep some strands out of her optics, and smiled gently. He seemed healthier when he could just stop for a minute.

“Hey,” she started softly.

X blinked, and then turned to her with an appreciative smile. “Thank you for coming. Especially after today.”

Alia tossed a hand in deliberately casual humor, moving up to join him so that they could both lean and look out. “You asked for help for once, and I'm not so drained I can't think. Yet.”

They shared a wan smile before X let his somber mood display again, and he looked out.

“I'm scaring myself.”

“How so?”

X looked down at his right hand, remembering Catfish's roar of pain, the sound of his body being torn apart. “...I took Catfish down too brutally. I let myself cave to my anger. ...Again.”

Alia's gaze tightened. “...Like with Vile?”

X twitched, but also nodded.

“...You do recognize how extreme the situation was, right? Most of our force was out of commission or worse. You get desperate to help total strangers, yet alone friends.”

X bowed his head, but nodded softly. “I do, and thank you, but I... I crossed the line again. I only barely stopped myself from going irrevocably far.”

“You nearly killed Catfish's personality drive?”

Another guilty nod.

“But you didn't.”

X glanced up to her serious, calm stare. “...I was very c--!?”

“No.” Alia started firmly and flatly. “Close doesn't matter. You'd blame yourself for someone dying if you 'almost' saved them, so close clearly isn't enough for these things. You did not kill him. You did that by choice.” She paused, cycled her breath, and went on, “But you were too violent, and too angry. That's good to realize, X. It means you're still in there. You just also need to give yourself a bit of slack for actually feeling anger and pain.”

He looked down, clearly doubtful, but listening. “It's getting so easy to slip...”

Alia reached out, resting a hand on his shoulder plating. It gently surprised him, and he looked to her eyes again. She smiled a little. “Do something concrete. For Catfish. Not that you can necessarily make amends for this kind of thing, but for your own sake, you should do something for him.”

X blinked, glanced off, and started to nod. “...Yes, that's... that gives it weight.”

Alia gestured. “See?”

X chuckled a little. “...You're my hero, after all.”

Alia blushed somewhat, and laughed it off. She swatted his same shoulder, and eased off the banister. “Good enough for now?”

X nodded. “Thank you, Alia. Stay safe, hm?”

She winked. “You, too!” And she trotted off, leaving them both with little smiles in place of the fear.


	9. A Vile Interlude

Volt Catfish snapped aware in the virtual space, recognizing X's presence a short distance away in the simulated space. X seemed sorrowful, guilty, but Volt couldn't grasp why. His own guilt bubbled up.

“Why did you save me?”

X gestured out. “You're a victim. Of the virus and myself, both.”

Volt raised an optic-ridge. “X, you were defending your allies. I... was not strong enough. I should have fought it harder.” He frowned deeply, looking down. “I'd read reports. Once the infection was clarified, other Mavericks had paused themselves, or struggled. I... reveled in the false rage and bloodlust.”

“You're still a victim, Catfish. The infection distorts things, blinds you. Some could fight it off better than others, but that doesn't change the facts.” X took a breath. “I wanted to offer you a choice. You can be rebuilt, virus-free, and simply go about your life, or I can help you take on a new identity, and take more... direct action against the virus threat.”

Volt Catfish blinked, then tilted his head. “So the rumors are true...”

X half-smiled, but nodded.

“You have a team throughout the Hunters, don't you?”

“Yes. I'm afraid I can't specify more for their own safety. Obviously, if you disagree with my activity, you can expose me, but their safety is my priority in moments like this.”

Volt chuckled, then nodded. “I appreciate the offer, but if you already have a crew, I think I would prefer to make amends with my own face.”

X bowed his head in acceptance. “See you soon, Catfish.”

“X?”

“Yes?”

“You are terrifying when you're that angry... but if you weren't that angry for your friends, you wouldn't be a good friend.”

X pulled his head back in shock, then was left thoughtful. Volt smiled a bit, waved, and they both faded from the simulation.

* * *

“I don't quite understand something about our mission,” Cadis muttered softly, keeping her repaired rifle ready, though lowered.

Tripwire glanced over his shoulder as they clambered over wreckage in the jungle region on the perimeter of Doppler Town. “What is it?”

Cadis paused to check a small motion she caught on her monocle... just a bird. She looked back and kept following Tripwire as she answered, “What value there is in scouting an area we already cleared and have forward camps monitoring?”

Tripwire chuckled a bit. “Ops is having trouble getting a bead on Crush Crawfish's activity. All the other maverick commanders in Doppler Town have been keeping us so busy, but Crush dropped off the radar. His facility seems quiet, but it's also heavily fortified. If he's not actually there, it's not worth risking the manpower yet. So! ...We're checking out older areas in case we missed something.”

Cadis made a thoughtful sound. “Would explain why they insisted on those high-sensitivity scanners for our gear, but mine's still quiet.”

Tripwire nodded. “Mine, too. Likely nothing out here, but--!?”

As Tripwire stepped down onto a particular chunk of metal and rock, the area around them both snapped open like a maw. They were airborne and falling instantly.

Tripwire grunted, snapping his arms out with tethers shooting out, but the wreckage they clung to yanked down with him rather than supporting his weight.

“At least a fifteen meter drop!” Cadis shouted in panic as they accelerated downward, her ponytail lashing above her head.

“Dammit!” Tripwire growled, and fired one tether down to Cadis, then the other to his side.

Cadis yelped, then grunted as she suddenly caught around the waist and slowed, just before they both slammed against the side of a clearly machine-dug drop.

“Ow... but thanks,” Cadis groaned quietly. “You picking up any other defenses in this pit?”

Tripwire strained slowly, his tether servos strained by the abrupt yanks. He was stuck for the moment while his internal repairs started up. “Not so far, but the sheer speed of that trap gate was insane. Comms working for you? My systems are busy repairing my servos so I can try to get us out of here.”

Cadis touched her ear. She winced. “Bad signal, but I'll try.” And she continued into the comms, “This is scout team Alpha-Six. Come in, HQ? ...Repeat, this is team Alpha-Six, do you read, HQ?”

Cadis cringed again. “I think they heard me, but the static is terrible. They probably couldn't confirm my words.”

Tripwire sighed slowly. “Keep trying every couple of minutes. I have no desire to learn what's at the bottom of this pit.”

* * *

X ran into the command center as alarms continued to blare. “What's going on!?”

Dex and Iris worked rapidly at their stations, Signas snapping his eyes over a holomap of most of Doppler Town, and Alia looked over her shoulder urgently, “X! Pit-traps just caught several scout teams all across Doppler Town. They're dug deep and engineered to interfere with comms and weapon systems. So far only fliers have gotten out.”

Signas quickly added, “And we've got teams of fliers moving to their positions to help the rest.”

X frowned deeply, and ran over to Alia's station as she focused back on relaying data between teams. He looked over the list of affected Hunters rapidly.

“We don't have enough people?”

“Not that many fliers, no.”

X twisted, starting to rush for the door again. “I'll get Alpha-Six, then start rallying to other points that need it!”

“What!? X, you c--!?”

“I can fly for about three seconds!” was all he shouted back before vanishing around the doorway.

* * *

Tripwire grimaced a bit. “Well... at least I feel better about my retraction servos not working after a mild yank.”

Cadis chuckled a little despite dangling so precariously. “Yeah, and my rifle's affected, too. I figure my pistol is, but getting to it would be uh...” she glanced down, “tricky.”

“Assist on the way, we'll be alright.”

Despite his kind tone, Cadis heard a concerned edge under his voice, and she glanced up to him. “...Thank you for holding us both up.”

Tripwire glanced to her. “...Not gonna let you die, kid.”

“You're always looking out for me. Ever since I joined.”

Tripwire shifted his gaze away, then up to his wire hooked to the higher part of the pit. “We all need someone to watch our back.”

Cadis squinted slightly at the back of his head. It wasn't exactly a good time to press the issue, but why was he acting so guilty about a kind act?

“Cadis, Tripwire!”

They both focused upward to see X at the edge of the pit.

“X!? You can't fly, can you?” Cadis chimed in confusion.

Tripwire just blinked, surprised to see the X-Hunter leader come just for them.

X chuckled a little. “I can fly for a few seconds! Other teams are on the way, but you guys were the outlier. Hold on!”

With that, X flipped over, dropping, only to ram his legs down and thruster-blast to a halt just near Cadis.

Cadis reached out for him to not waste time, but then something even worse happened.

The entire pit erupted with scattering energy. Tripwire and Cadis were both shocked for an instant, jerking, though not falling, but X was somehow the focal point the next beat. Every arc and wave of blue-white energy streamed and crackled over his frame as he convulsed in pain and shock.

Cadis' optics snapped to focus. “Tripwire, swing me!”

He didn't hesitate, immediately lashing his arms to rush her toward X.

Yet, just as Cadis hands started to close on X's one arm, a tremendous rush of energy filled the very center of the pit. Cadis cried out as her hands were singed and flung away, X vanishing within the beam of light.

Her hands still smoking, Cadis stared in horror at the empty air and silence. “No... Oh Light, please, no...”

Tripwire grimaced. “Is your comm working!?”

Cadis tapped at her ear. “HQ!? HQ, X was taken!” After a pause, she growled. “The static is even worse—what!?”

Cadis all but yelped the question as she was suddenly wrenched back, then violently upward, Tripwire roaring in exertion. Cadis was confused, looking down as she flew up past Tripwire, only to watch his arms start to dislocate along his primary joints. “TRIPWIRE!?”

His raw torque did it. They both flew out of the pit, but he crashed down without being able to use his arms, Cadis skidding back on her knees before running over to check on him.

“Wasn't worth it before,” he grumbled out, seeming dismissive of his tattered limbs. “Get on the horn, they need to know!”

* * *

Alia stared through her screen, her eyes widened. Dex and Iris were still scrambling to confirm if any of the other teams had the sudden discharge and teleportation event. Zero and Signas were both watching Alia with concern.

Iris looked back from her console. “Sir, we've confirmed from all teams, only Alpha-Six had the discharge event!”

Zero nodded to her. “Good work, stay alert for reports.”

Iris nodded sharply, and twisted back to her console, though she did spare a glance toward Alia as she did so.

Alia jerked, and suddenly pulled up mapping data, similar to what Signas and Zero were overlooking at the holodisplay. She entered a few commands, and then looked to the other operators instantly. “Dex, Iris, which team is closest to their pit without anyone being IN the pit?”

The request was confusing enough to pause everyone, but Iris recovered first. “Blast Squirrel's recovery of Beta-Four is still near their event point, sir!”

Alia nodded, and joined the comms, “Blast Squirrel, do you have a tight-beam transmitter on you?”

“Eh? Uh... yes! Standard rescue gear, why?” the confused X-Hunter returned.

“I'm sending you a data packet. I want you to tight-beam it into the pit, but do NOT be over the pit when you do. This is a theory test, and assume the pit event will trigger.”

“Copy that.”

Blast was more serious with the request, and he pulled a small device from one his storage compartments, aiming it toward the pit from a short distance away with his rescued team looking on curiously.

After a brief pause, he confirmed, “Data received, transmitting.”

With a little beep of signal, the pit suddenly erupted with lightning that shot skyward a fair distance, but then dispersed almost immediately. “You called it, Alia, what was that?”

Alia clenched her fists. “X's energy signature.”

Signas and Zero focused on her again.

“So it was a trap,” Zero affirmed grimly.

Alia looked up at the master screen with a hollow despair in her eyes. “A trap just for X.”

Then she rattled her head, and snapped her eyes back down to the console, her hands starting to blur over her controls. “Dex, I need help scanning for signal deadzones in or around Doppler Town, especially anything that's been dead since before the fighting broke out!”

Dex started working before he asked anything. “What's your thinking, Alia?”

Iris started to help as well, discretely so.

Alia answered, “Whoever did this wanted X isolated and alone. There's only so many ways you can cut someone off completely, and this is so targeted it had to be prepped long in advance.”

Zero glanced down to the map overlay, showing all the pit traps across Doppler Town. Then he tapped a comm control. “Tunnel Rhino, you conscious yet?”

“Eager and waiting, sir, good to be back. What do you need?”

“Your experience. How long would it take you to dig a pit five meters wide and twenty deep?”

“Rough or clean-shaped for stability?”

Zero glanced over, and Alia looked to him instantly. “Clean-shaped, by all reports.”

“You hear that, Rhino?”

“Yes, sir. Would take me about ten minutes going full bore. Specialized equipment would be about twice that.”

“Very good, thank you, Zero out.”

Looking up from the comm unit, Zero looked to Alia, who pointed without looking to Iris. Iris promptly offered, “Travel distance between the pits is at least ten minutes as well.”

“So if someone was truly determined, they could have set the pits up in a matter of hours,” Zero noted.

Signas folded his arms as he leaned upright at last. “But they also had to do it undetected. We've had sensors sweeping constantly since the fighting started, which means Alia's suspicion is only reaffirmed.”

Zero nodded. “Someone set this up before Doppler even launched his attack.”

* * *

X grunted as he tumbled down to a hard surface in the dark. His systems were confused and shocked by the override teleport. He stumbled a bit at first, pawing around himself, and then slowly stood, blinking his eyes as his optical systems recalibrated.

“Heck of a trap,” he muttered, rattling his head, and looking around in the gloom.

As his optics shifted for low-light conditions, he frowned. It was some kind of old, decommissioned factory or industrial facility. Some walls were missing, debris was everywhere, even some graffiti and hanging wires that sparked on occasion (so power was still here despite the gloom).

Out of habit, he touched his ear, and cringed at the static burst. “Jamming, obviously...”

He exhaled slowly, feeling guilty for reaching Cadis and Tripwire only to vanish on them. Had them been taken, too? Even his revved up sensors became too painful.

“Generalized jamming and sensor masking. Expensive and complicated...”

He started to move forward, forced to rely on mostly mundane light vision and normal audio wavelengths.

“ **X, how good of you to come.** ”

With his sensor maxed as possible, the voice was booming. X grunted, grabbing his head, doubling over as he readjusted. After a beat, he glared up at nothing. “...Vile. Doppler cloned you, too?”

“Nothing so empty! You were so remiss when you 'killed' me, you never checked my personality drive for critical damage. I have a few... gaps in things, but one thing remains very clear. I'm going to make you suffer.”

X's eyes wavered. How could Vile have survived? Though... he'd been so furious and distraught in that battle... It was true. He'd only blown up Vile's head. The personality drive should have overloaded, but circuits could have burnt out on the way, saving it from a meltdown. A fluke... but possible.

“Oh? No heroic rejoinder? I was looking forward to that before making you EAT IT!”

X's shoulders slumped. “...I shouldn't have killed you, Vile. I was lost to my anger. I need to overcome that part of myself.” He slowly looked up again. “You could come back to the Hunters, you know? I'll vouch for you, if you want that chance?”

“Now THAT... would be an empty existence. Didn't Zero tell you before? I was built to be a war-machine!”

The voice bounced and fractured everywhere. X couldn't hope to find the source yet. It may as well have been all around him.

“Sigma's rebellion was a gift! I could finally cut loose! No red tape, no check lists, no procedure! Just war! And you, you sniveling little failure of a pacifist, stole it from me! That's why I took so much time to set all this up. I wanted to make sure you couldn't ruin things for me again!”

X clenched his fists. “It's an infection, Vile. A virus. Your record was flawless before the rebellion. You showed no signs of cruelty or out of bounds violence!”

“Do you think I'm stupid!?”

X jerked, shouting as part of the floor and three pillars around him suddenly exploded, spraying cement and metal debris all over the place.

X stumbled through the sudden cloud, scrapes and dents already showing on his armor from the more direct hits. _The whole facility is rigged like that!? It's a giant demolition trap just for me!?_

“Just because I was built to kill, doesn't mean I can't control myself, you insulting moron!”

X coughed from his respirator misfiring on the dust before his systems readapted. “So it was just too good an opportunity to pass up? Drop everything you'd worked on for years just so you could kill without approval?”

“So I could kill who I want, that's the important part, all while watching those outmoded humans die or kneel at our boots!”

X bowed his head, and then closed his eyes as he focused. “So you're claiming you were never infected?”

“I didn't have to be,” Vile's voice bled out with some relish.

X had the locations of the speakers in his immediate area. He needed just a little more data. “So all that work, and you hate me just for spoiling your fun?”

“I HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU BLEW MY SLAGGING HEAD OFF!”

X's eyes snapped open. The speakers were subtly off, one triggering before the others on a minute level. That indicated the signal was stronger that way, an origin point. He suddenly wrenched to his left, thruster-boosting forward.

“OOOH, clever! I've got plenty for you!”

And the facility started to explode all around X, forcing him to dive, roll, twist, reboost, and twirl madly just to avoid being buried in rubble.

Reaching a larger space in the facility, X was forced to forward flip over a collapsing pillar that had blown out its own base. Just as his boots started to touch ground again, Vile himself appeared!

The Maverick drove a punch straight through X's left cheek, rocketing off past X as the trapped hunter twirled around and crashed flat.

X groaned, but was immediately assaulted from all sides by fresh explosions. He was flung away, then bounced, and rebounded between shockwaves, parts of his armor denting, some cracking, and some pieces actually shearing off.

Correcting mid-flight, X rammed his boots down, and thruster-rammed his body back into the area that had just blown up, tumbling into a roll, and ending on his haunches.

He didn't look well. His respirator was working heavily, some parts of his frame were sparking, and his helmet gem was starting to glow rhythmically.

“Did you think I blew every charge?”

The voice reverberated all around again, and then explosions lit up around X from the clearer parts of the floor. X cried out, and rammed his arms to the sides as power rushed over his body. Larger plasma blasts ripped out to either side of him, neutralizing his momentum, and blowing out a few pillars before they could explode near him.

X dropped heavily to one knee, his eyes narrowing against pain as he dialed his sensors up to full despite the piercing jamming and masking clawing at his systems.

“You know, I was told that Zero died in front of you. Death just doesn't quite stick around here, does it!?”

Vile came rushing in from behind X, shoulder cannon primed, fists clenched, ready to hammer the Reploid down and blast him on the floor.

But this time X's colors flashed golden, and his right arm snapped backwards before his head even finished turning. Vile watched X's eye focus over his own shoulder before ray-splasher exploded out from the buster barrel.

Vile was halted by the volley of plasma bolts the weapon unleashed, then thrown once his momentum died off.

X stood and faced him as Vile recovered with a flip, but then Vile paused, angling his head.

X was staring through everything, and his face was... twitching? His body was still badly damaged, his gem pulsing a little faster now.

Vile snapped one arm, firing off a few orbs from his wrist housing. He watched as X's arms flickered and snapped, one using silk-shot to yank a few away, the other firing out a chameleon sting to hit the last few, which blew up outside of harmful range.

“...You're doing that through sensor scrambling...” Vile muttered darkly. “Your entire processing network should be fried by that! HOW!? HOW DO YOU NOT DIE FROM ALL THE ENERGY!? ALL THE INPUT!?”

Vile suddenly rocketed toward X again. “WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?”

This time X snap-coiled to one side, and his colors flickered purple. A claw-chain shot out, grabbed onto Vile's face, and yanked him straight into the floor. His momentum was enough that he still shattered through a pillar after the claw released him, and it exploded from the charges being disturbed.

Vile picked himself up, part of his T-visor cracked, revealed purely mechanical optic arrays whirring and refocusing.

Still, X didn't speak. The reploid stared through the world, waiting, primed to react.

Vile made a slow laughing sound. “You're just defending yourself. Now I get it. You're trying to make up for slaughtering me last time. Well... that's why I invested in some leverage.” He lifted a small device in his hand, and clicked it.

X braced, but his head angled as nothing more than a holoscreen manifested between the two reploids.

Humans. Human children were crying and huddling in a dark room on the feed.

X's eyes refocused at last, his pupils dilating, and his hands snapped out of his busters only to claw with tension. “Where are they!?”

Vile chuckled. “In this building. That way,” he pointed to his left. “And you have,” Vile clicked another button the same control, distant rumbling starting immediately, “About forty seconds to save them... or catch me!”

The Maverick suddenly whirled up and blasted off, racing off the opposite direction to the indication of the children.

X didn't hesitate. He ripped off to the right, his boots sparking and grinding, but never halting their continuous trading blast-thrusts, even as the spaces all around X started to explode and shred apart.

As he tore through the facility, comms finally crackled through.

“--etected you! We can...--port you out!”

X roared back to Alia in his desperation, “DO NOT TELEPORT ME OUT! HUMAN CIVILIANS IN DANGER! I need a group tele-field coded for organic bodies on my mark!”

Alia reacted instantly. “Copy! Iris and Dex are prepping the field now, I'm holding lock on your location now that we've found it!”

X just used comm-clicks to confirm as he violently swirled around an exploding pillar, and finally saw a cage-like collapsed area where the children were huddled, now crying out in horror every time something exploded around their prison.

Most of the children were just ducking and curled down to avoid debris, but one girl looked up just in time to catch the moment X ripped through the side of their prison. He flipped over himself, and reached down, gripping her shoulder.

“ALIA, NOW!”

And a flash of blue engulfed the group just before the prison collapsed amidst a chorus of explosions.

* * *

X flipped out of the teleport field, but more or less collapsed as he did, flopping on his back as the children gasped or stared around in shock. Medical Reploids hurried over, helping get the kids on their feet, assessing possible injuries.

Alia, Signas, and Zero were in the background, Alia barely restraining herself from bolting to X, who was just laying there, cycling his respirator.

One of the children asked for a moment, and the medic stood by as she stepped closer to X.

“...Sir?”

X focused up at her eyes, and started to get up.

She reached down, touching his shoulder. “Stay... I wanted to thank you.”

X looked back to her eyes as he relaxed flat, and showed a guilty expression. “It's my fault you were kidnapped like that.”

She shook her head. “It's that weirdo's fault. Thank you...” And she eased off with the medic.

X closed his eyes, trying to let the relief of her comment soak into his mind. It was difficult...

A blessedly familiar touch reached his helmet the next moment, and he looked up to see Alia's gently worried face.

“You're a mess... What happened?” Her words were harsher than her soft tone. She was clearly afraid for his pain, and relieved he was alright.

X lost himself in her face for a moment, then rattled his head to refocus. “Vile. He set up the whole situation. Some factory facility, rigged with explosives almost everywhere.”

Signas asked as he and Zero walked closer, “Is he down?”

X sighed slowly. “No. I had to choose between chasing him or letting the humans be buried alive.”

Alia had a few responses ready, but kept herself in check, glancing to Signas and Zero again.

Zero was just watching, grim, but not as suspicious as he usually appeared these days.

Signas nodded. “You made the right call then. He had to have set this up before Doppler's attack launched, we'll keep the scans running. If he tries to set up another ambush, we should be better prepared.”

Alia seemed relieved, and looked back to X with a smile.

X managed a wan smile back, and finally started to sit up. He blinked at Alia's hand in front of his face, and then smiled more openly, taking her hand, and rising up with her help.

Alia pouted at the sparks that flitted out of his frame as he did so.

Signas chuckled a little. “Looks like you need some medpod time. Come on, X.”

X half-smiled, nodding, and made no objection when Alia started to lead him along with an arm across his shoulders.

Zero looked after them as they left, Signas still standing by him.

“It's like there's two fights going on. The war, and whatever's hunting him.”

Signas side-glanced the red Reploid. “Apparently so.”

* * *

Alia exhaled with slow relief as she closed X's repair pod, and started the cycle. He'd been grateful, the same kind Reploid she'd grown so fond of, but he was clearly weighed down terribly beyond how badly injured he'd become.

Steps made Alia glance back, and she became sympathetic for the guilty, sad expression on Cadis' face.

“Is he going to be alright?”

Alia offered a smile, and eased over toward Cadis. “He will be. He just had a rough time.”

Cadis nodded, then looked down, her hands fidgeting slowly. “...He shouldn't have come to help us, and poor Tripwire got so hurt so we could get the message out...”

Alia raised an eyebrow, stepped a bit closer, and rested a hand on Cadis' shoulder. It gently surprised the dark-haired Reploid, and once their eyes locked, Alia offered a gentle tone.

“X always comes to help. It wasn't your fault. Tripwire is cryptic, but very noble. Neither of them regret helping you, and you've done plenty for all of us. Let that guilt go, please?”

Cadis pouted, and then slumped into Alia's shoulder with a quiet sob. Alia was a bit startled, and then hugged Cadis softly.

“...I was so relieved... to see him... and... then so terrified when the energy tore him away...”

Alia's eyes clenched, and she gave the hug a little squeeze. “Sounds like you care about him exactly the way you should. It's okay...”

Cadis coiled her arms around Alia, and cried for a while yet...

* * *

Zero stepped into a heavily secured lab chamber, eyeing the somewhat dark space suspiciously. “...Dr. Cain, you in here?”

An aged hand appeared over one of the consoles further in, waving toward the far side.

Zero came along as beckoned, and noted how loud his legs were in the quiet lab. Hissing micro-hydraulics and servos clicked until he was near the human authority over the Maverick Hunters. immediately, Zero sharpened his gaze at what Dr. Cain was doing.

A huge set of screen spread beyond Dr. Cain, all scrolling with code, most of it adapting and changing almost organically as different data segments were matched against it for some kind of input/output reaction. It always failed of course, but it was so many and so fast it was shocking.

“What do you think?” Dr. Cain asked quietly at first.

Zero frowned. “I think the Sigma Virus is living up to its unstoppable reputation.” His arms folded. “What's going on, Doc?”

Dr. Cain smiled a bit cryptically, lifted a finger, pointed at one screen, and then brought the same finger down to initiate a protocol program of some kind.

Zero blinked, and leaned in as he watched the virus reactions speed up faster and faster until data processing errors wracked up too fast for the console to handle, and it actually shut off the entire interface, rebooting back to a drive-damage report screen.

Zero eased back, and then looked to Dr. Cain seriously. “...The virus killed the host processor with overload.”

Dr. Cain lifted his finger again. “The virus was _forced_ to do so.”

Zero's eyes widened. “Forced? How?”

Dr. Cain stood up, facing Zero with a satisfied smile now, his cane under both hands. “The virus' strength can be turned against it. It adapts so quickly and so violently that if the input of attacks accelerates to overlocked levels, it matches it regardless of the hardware limitations involved. It's processing power is somehow divorced from it's host hardware. I have no idea how code could pull that off, that's why the genius of its design is... beyond me, but with this overload protocol, we can terminate it before it spreads without fail.”

Zero rubbed at his chin slowly, looking down into nothing as he thought about it. “...You could kill every infected with the touch of a button, if you have signal to their programming.”

Dr. Cain shook his head. “No, no, this would have to be embedded in the firmware. ...Like Emergency Stasis was.”

Zero lifted his eyebrows, staring at Dr. Cain again. “...a reactive countermeasure. You'll make it so anyone who gets infected dies before they can hurt anyone else.” They weren't questions.

Dr. Cain nodded more seriously. “If blood is going to be on my hands, I'd rather it be contained. Wouldn't you?”

Zero frowned, and looked back down at the error screen. “...I'm a fighter, Dr. Cain. I tackle problems head on. Putting a suicide trigger in every Reploid because of the Mavericks isn't something I'd agree with lightly.”

Dr. Cain gestured. “Do you think I am doing it lightly?”

Zero shook his head. “But I know I wouldn't be comfortable with that in my systems. I can't ask someone else to do it. If you're going to push this through, Doc, you'll have to pull rank for it.”

Dr. Cain's frowned, but looked more sad than angry. “...I'd hoped at least you would see my point.”

Zero eased back. “Oh, I see it, Doc. I'm just not agreeing with it.” He waved a bit, turning. “I'll see how it pans out, I suppose.”

He left a very troubled Dr. Cain to look at the same error screen.

* * *

The repair pod finally lowered down and opened as X groggily sat up. His mood didn't seem pleasant, but perhaps it was simply him staring off into space as his head bowed for a moment, some of the coolant misting down around him from the pod.

“...How are you doing?”

X blinked, and looked up into Alia's eyes. She was standing just a short distance away from his pod, a dataslate in one hand.

X offered an apologetic smile. “Didn't mean to worry you. I'm... well enough.” He eased up, sliding down to his feet with a series of hisses and rushes from his frame. “I need to go take care of something I've been putting off, I think. Unless Crush Crawfish has made a move?”

Alia showed her worry more openly, then sighed a little. “No, actually, it's been quiet for a day or so now. We assume they're building up to something, but we're still getting forces into position near Crawfish's most likely HQ.”

X nodded, and eased up to her. “...Thank you, Alia. ...How much time do we have?”

She half-smiled. He seemed to at least realize he was worrying her, and appreciating her not pushing him at the moment. “Operations commence tomorrow morning, but there is one more thing.”

X lifted his eyebrows.

“Zero wanted to speak with you.”

* * *

A still rather confused X stepped into one of the smaller ops rooms of HQ. It was dimly lit, and Zero was leaning against the far wall, arms folded. X was immediately caught by how troubled Zero appeared while watching him.

X shut the door before speaking. “You wanted to speak with me?”

Zero took out a comm-blocker, showed it to X clearly, and then activated it.

X tightened his eyes. “...Off the record, I see.”

Zero nodded, and then pushed off to be closer to X before responding. “Originally, I was going to use Iris to test Alia with this information. See how long it took to get to you.”

X's eyes remained clenched.

Zero sighed, “But then I realized how nasty I'd feel making Iris lie or manipulate someone for me, and the info itself is bugging me enough that I'm... thinking things over.”

X eased into a cautious curiosity. “So what's on your mind, Zero?”

“Why don't you trust Dr. Cain?”

“I trust him to do wh--!?”

“Cut the crap, X,” Zero interrupted, though calm of tone. “Why don't you trust the man who found your capsule and thinks of you like a son?”

X became grave, and Zero watched closely. This was the fully unmasked X that worried him so much. A disturbingly calculating, sharp creature, but with goals that seemed impossibly naive.

“...Dr. Cain is so guilt-ridden by the Maverick issue, he'll cause harm in his desperation to fix the problem.”

Zero nodded subtly. “...And why don't you trust me?”

“You're too quick to kill as a solution.”

“Like with Mac,” Zero affirmed once more.

“Like with Mac,” X evenly returned.

“So what's the difference between Mac and Sigma?” Zero challenged, but in a calm, serious tone. He wasn't angry, he was actually seeking understanding.

“Only that I was forced to handle Sigma a certain way rather than immediately trying to kill him.”

“Mac had you captured. He could have killed you at will.”

X shook his head. “No, he couldn't.”

Zero sharpened his eyes finally. “...You did let yourself get caught...”

“So I could assess his full plan a bit better, yes.”

Zero exhaled, and rubbed along his chin slowly. “...Be discrete. Find a way to explain you knowing this before spreading it around.”

X raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

“Dr. Cain has a... type of anti-virus developed. But it's... dangerous. It kills the host to stop the spread.”

X's eyes widened in sincere panic as much as shock. “Is it being deployed!?”

Zero shook his head. “He's still in development, and it'll have to be installed. Like emergency-stasis.”

X's pupils dilated, but he clenched his fists and bowed his head, trembling at the grief and frustration of Dr. Cain's choice.

Zero watched this closely. He could tell it was very real. It had hit X on his actual beliefs and goals, head-on.

“...Thank you for telling me,” X rasped out while still calming himself down.

“...You took a hit for me, and you took Volt Catfish out hard... without killing him. You also got those kids out of a killing field... while letting Vile escape.” Zero gestured slowly. “I disagree with your tactics, but I can't argue that you're weak-willed.”

X exhaled, and straightened again. “I'm going out today. Signas will give me a scouting mission to explain it. Are you going to block it?”

Zero blinked. “What are you actually doing...?”

“Collecting some resources I've had to ignore until now.”

“What kind?”

“You'll see when I get back.”

Zero smirked a bit. “Baby steps, hm?”

X tipped his head.

“...I won't block it.”

Zero cut off the comm-blocked, stuffed it away, and shifted around X casually for the exit.

“...Thank you,” X muttered softly.

Zero paused at the door, tossed a hand over his shoulder, and then stepped out of sight.

* * *

Volt Catfish drowsily came-to. He recognized the medbay instinctively, but was too mentally foggy to realize why that would be unexpected. His optics rattled a bit, coming to focus on a Reploid he barely recognized.

Overload half-smiled a bit as the ex-Maverick blearily stared at him. “Welcome back from the dead, Volt Catfish.”

Catfish blinked, and then his eyes widened, and he jerked his hands up into his own view, patting down over himself. “What...?”

Overload gestured at him. “You've been cured of the Doppler virus. You're alright. I'm Overload,” he offered his hand.

Catfish's memory fully caught up at long last, and he shook Overload's hand as he remembered his ethereal chat with X. “You... that was an impressive current redirection with your own frame at stake.”

Overload shrugged, his smile warmed by his private relief that Volt was back to his usual self. “Nothing compared to X, but I had to try.”

Catfish nodded, and just sat there for a beat. “So... am I civilian, or...?”

Overload folded his arms casually. “Up to you! Command welcomes you back to active duty and needs the help, but if you want to retire, no one will blink. Just have to disable your weapon systems before we walk you out the doors.” He smirked again.

Volt Catfish chuckled back, and rubbed at his massive chin for a moment. “Tempting, but... I think have a debt to pay.”

Overload tipped his head, relaxing his arms. “I hear that. If you're up for it, I'll get you onboarded?”

“Please!”

* * *

Iris and Colonel were both a bit confused as they stepped into the small briefing room with Zero once again.

“It's not bad news,” Zero started calmly.

Iris smiled a little, and Colonel just straightened to show he was attentive.

Zero activated the comm-scrambler. “Small breakthrough with X. That scouting mission Signas sent him on?”

Iris lifted a finger. “I was going to reach out to you about that before you called us, sir.”

Zero smiled, nodding. “Good work. X admitted to me it's a cover. He's... 'recovering resources.' Depending on what it is, we'll accelerate our job about him, but if it's not a problem, we may be able to lower our guard a little. So stay alert, but it's a step in a positive direction.”

Colonel frowned. “It confirms he's initiating directives of his own with Signas' aid, however, sir.”

Zero nodded seriously to that point, but said nothing yet.

Iris glanced between them. “X is a B-class hunter despite his record because of that, yes?”

The two other Reploids looked at her, curious of her point.

“It's just that command has already established that his acting outside of the chain is enough of an issue to keep him demoted despite his successes. Perhaps he's relying on that to get his... other work done?”

Zero gestured casually. “I suspect you're right. I've wondered why he didn't fight that ranking harder. This would make sense. It's also why we're still watching closely, but if he's willing to open up to me, I don't want to hammer too hard. Yet.”

Iris nodded, serious, though somewhat relieved by this update. If even Zero was softening his worry, however slightly, she felt immensely better about leaving Dex and Depthcharge be before she knew Depthcharge was operating to save civilians.

Colonel still seemed displeased, but voiced no complaint. Ever the loyal soldier.

Zero offered a salute, mostly for Colonel's sake, and after it was shared, he gestured out, disabling the scrambler. “Back to it. If you notice anything, report quickly, hm?”

They both affirmed before dispersing.


	10. Cause and Effect

//Telling Zero as much as you did wasn't the best move, X...// Alia muttered quietly into the X-Hunter line.

X climbed down through some of the wreckage of the jungle facility that Neon Tiger had used during his Maverick phase. //He already knew that much, it was a demonstration of trust because he told us about the Cain Anti-Virus.//

//Which is incredibly hard to get more detail on without tripping alarms, especially with Iris involved now. She's good, X, I can't get around her reliably.//

//Understood. I'm hoping Dr. Cain will offer an update I can move off of himself soon, but please keep checking your options.//

//Of course, X. Just... be careful with Zero, alright? With that unsubtle investigation going on, you know he's the type that will nail you to the wall if he finds enough.//

X slid down to an even surface, and moved up to a smooth, hardened wall. He ran his hands along it for a moment. //I know you're right, Alia. It was a risk I believed was needed at the time. ...We'll see if I was wrong.//

Alia sighed at her console in HQ, pinching the bridge of her nose. _How does me make feel guilty for being right!?_ //Okay... just stay safe out there? Vile's not going to quit, and neither are those two goons.//

X smiled a little. //Copy that.//

Once the signal cut off for the moment, he tightened his eyes at the smooth surface. He'd made note of it before, he knew a capsule was behind it, but now that he could actually take some time, the material really was remarkable. Dense, non-conductive, highly durable.

His colors shifted green, and his busters spawned plasma wheels from Wheel Gator's systems. He fired them, but they sparked and screamed against the material, leaving little more than glowing scratches on the surface once they ran out of power.

X nodded to himself. “You're dispersing the plasma almost instantly on impact. Clever. Explosives would have a similar problem if the shockwave wouldn't crack you, too.” He thought for a moment, then winced as he remembered his fight with Volt Catfish.

Tornado Fang. The rocket drills from Tunnel Rhino were non-conductive, redirecting the heat outward to help melt through whatever it was drilling into.

Energy poured into X's frame as his colors shifted into darker. Instead of unleashing a huge barrage, the energy build focused down into his buster and empowered its reconfiguration. He now had a drill-arm very similar to Tunnel Rhino himself. X braced, lunged, and struck the wall with precise force.

The drill cut through the wall immediately, boring through it like sand. X shifted his stance, using the drill to tear out a tunnel he could move through, slowly easing forward step by step. After a couple of minutes, he finally punched through, stumbling a bit from the release of pressure.

Looking outward in mild surprise, X glanced across an odd chamber. His colors and buster reverted as he stepped up to the edge of the small platform he'd stepped onto, leading into a pit of hardened metal spikes before a far ledge with a capsule waiting atop it.

“...Really? That's it? A wall and a pit of spikes?”

X glanced down to his boots for a moment, then sprinted to the edge. A maximum thrust burst from his modified boots sent him sailing across the gap with no challenge. He even elevated upward a bit midflight, and then dropped to a crouch on the capsule's platform.

He had to take a moment, staring at the capsule sadly. How he wished this entire virus ordeal had already resolved. But...

X reached out, placing his hand on the capsule. It chimed, hissed, and the containment field flickered down into a hologram of Dr. Light once more.

“Megaman X, enter this capsule. It contains an upgrade for your weapon systems. Instead of charging separate volleys in your arms, you will be able to merge the discharges as you fire them, creating a tremendously enhanced energy wave. I trust you'll use it wisely.”

X watched the hologram disperse, and bowed his head. “...I hope.”

With a quick turn, he stepped into the capsule. Light streamed around him between the two ends of the capsule, and in a blinding flash, his arms were made new.

X stepped out of the capsule, looking down at his still-steaming arms. The new shape was considerably sharper, angular, with white, red, gold, and blue coloration similar to the boot upgrade. Frowning thoughtfully, X transformed both busters, and looked at them closely for a moment. The new systems were integrating and linking into his core programs.

Closing his eyes, X exhaled slowly. “This will be catastrophic when fired. ...But I think I know where to use it next.”

Without actually firing the new weapons, he stepped forward, and vanished into a teleportation field.

* * *

Iris couldn't help being concerned. Conflicted between believing X was a good person, and agreeing with Zero that his behavior was at the very least worrying, seeing X's signal blip across most of the Doppler Town map was clearly not just a 'scouting mission.'

Gnawing on her lip for a moment, Iris glanced over toward Alia, who was coordinating with Dex to help several teams keep Crush Crawfish's base isolated while more forces built up.

Iris took a breath, and called softly, “Alia, sir? May I have a word?”

Alia blinked over at her, nodded, and shared a quick comment with Dex before stepping over smoothly. “What's wrong, Iris?” It was plain on the younger Reploid's face that she was bothered.

Iris pointed to her screen, tapped the display map, and showed the highlights of X's positions so far that day. Apparently he was visiting the wreckage of the power facility now.

Alia's expression fell somewhat, and she looked between the screen and Iris a few times. “...You're concerned about X's mission?”

Iris kept her voice soft, lower now. “What kind of scouting mission is this?”

Alia considered how to reply. Part of her wanted to pull rank, but crushing down on Iris' self-esteem like that was too cruel, as well as very likely to backfire in the end. Perhaps as honest as possible then. “...Do you trust that he's looking out for everyone?”

Iris blinked, and then glanced down after a moment. She certainly hoped so after all she'd seen, but... certainty was beyond her means.

Alia frowned, but mostly just from sadness. Zero had gotten to her heavily then. “...Report anything you wish to higher up the chain, Iris, but I'm not concerned by that mission myself. Clear enough?” Her tone remained calm and amicable.

Iris looked up again to nod subtly, showing a little smile. “Thank you, sir.”

Alia smiled back, patted Iris' shoulder, and moved back to work with Dex.

Iris ducked her head, almost feeling Signas glancing her way afterward. Looking down, she realized her hands were shaking. She clenched them together, cycled her respirator, and tried to focus on her other work for the moment.

* * *

X stepped down onto some of the wreckage from the power facility. The entire area looked like a junkyard now, from the collapse of the towers, to the shattered flooring of the massive underground chamber that had opened up for the battle.

Nodding to himself, X swept one hand slowly over the ground before him. His internal systems confirmed that a Light-capsule was underneath. He'd sensed it before, of course, all four pods had been clear to him since the start of this fiasco, but now he finally had a moment to really analyze them.

And now, this one was buried under tons of metal, rock, and plastic.

With closed eyes, X started to charge, plasma swirling out of the air and along his arms, up to his shoulders, his torso, up over his crown and down to his boots. The power his body could draw out of the environment was immense, and had only grown more so with all of Light's upgrades and support.

X was afraid of his own power, and it only grew with each step of this upgrade process as well. It was in these moments that he really understood why anyone would be terrified of him, of mavericks, of all Reploids.

This was why he couldn't be enraged by Dr. Cain. Could you blame anyone for being afraid of someone who could possibly wipe out the planet with enough time?

X's colors shifted, purple and gray tones dominating his frame, and he slowly drew one buster skyward.

//Signas, Alia, you're about to register a gravity surge. It's me.//

//A... what?// Alia had to return on the X-Hunter line in understandably concerned confusion.

//Even Gravity Beetle's weapon system shouldn't cause enough to...// Signas trailed off as X calmly replied.

//I've gotten upgrades. You'll detect this.//

//...Copy,// Signas returned, Alia conspicuously quiet.

And X opened his eyes before firing upward.

It wasn't just a gravity generator pod that released. The air warped, the light around the area paled, then darkened, and a swirled mass of catastrophic force ripped skyward... only to halt about fifteen meters up.

And then it brought the ground with it.

Massive girders, dead power lines, debris of all shapes and sizes fell up, swirling and crashing together, some crunching into single masses from the force of the gravity well that had been fired.

Slowly and surely, the capsule beneath was unburied... and somehow unaffected by the pull.

* * *

An alert had gone off at HQ, but it was quickly dismissed by Signas... that just didn't stop everyone from staring at any data they had for what was going on. Alia, Dex, and Iris were all equally stunned by the raw forces registering to their sensors.

Gravity Beetle hurried into the command center, glanced around, and then ran to Alia's station, his optics widening at the results.

“...I needed an entire facility to create that effect...”

Alia nodded slowly. “...I thought that was the only way to do something of that scale...”

Even Signas was watching, troubled in silence. This was power on a different level entirely. He'd respected X's power on the field since he'd taken on his new name, but this time it was... frightening.

Finally, Zero and Colonel ran into the command center as well, saw the mood, and then hurried to Iris' station with Alia's already crowded.

Zero slowly clenched a fist as he realized what the data was displaying. “...This is accurate?” he muttered softly.

Iris just nodded, clearly stunned silent as well.

Colonel folded his arms. “My hesitation regarding our tasking is gone, sir,” he added quietly.

Zero nodded slowly this time, and then looked over to Signas. “Status report, please?”

Signas looked over, “Unsure, sir. X's scouting mission wouldn't call for this display, as far as I am aware. We also don't detect any threats, or civilians, in that region.”

Zero opted for the direct approach, and touched his audio receptor. “X, do you copy?”

“Loud and clear,” X's voice returned, though background noise of crashing metal and rock was still obvious.

“Status report?”

“Clearing debris to check for something my sensors picked up. Just verifying there's no lingering threat.”

Zero tightened his eyes, but didn't push it here. Not yet. “Copy, you gave us a scare.”

“Sorry about that. Gravity flux will be over shortly.”

Zero cut the line, and rubbed at his chin. “Upgrades, huh...?”

* * *

X stepped down to the capsule as debris started to rain back down further away. At his touch, it opened, and Light's hologram returned.

“Megaman X, enter this capsule. It will upgrade your armor and defense systems, converting incoming energy damage and kinetic force into a shield generator discharge. It should greatly reduce the threat of smaller scale weapons against you, but please remain careful.”

X took a breath. At least it was a shield, rather than another super-weapon. He stepped into the capsule, and closed his eyes as the light washed over his frame once again.

* * *

X stood in the mines of what had been Tunnel Rhino's facility, looking up at a carefully engineered trap of rubble and boulders ready to come tumbling down on whatever tried to break through it from below.

His new armor glistened even in the dim light. He was more angular, his shoulder guards more pronounced, and the red, white, blue colors sharply spread over his entire frame other than his head now.

X's eyes tightened as he considered the trap. He knew the capsule was above, and this trap was likely engineered just for him, so the tonnage and spread would be... overboard.

His brow creased as he remembered something. Volt Catfish, unleashing a shockwave of electromagnetic power with a tremendous punch to the flooring.

Taking a few moments, X closed his eyes and ran system checks on his weapon system upgrades from the recent battles. Combined with his new body upgrades, he could mimic the raw force and discharge, though with significantly more build up required.

Nodding a little, X began to rush over with power once again, his colors snapping to purples and greens.

Once the energy reached full charge, X suddenly roared, and slammed his fist down into the ground. All of the power ripped out through the ground in a shockwave mingled with electromagnetic destruction... soon matched by the thunderous rumble throughout the cavern of the mine.

The trap crashed apart, falling down harmlessly ahead of X, as if the cavern was raining down from a storm, and he knelt under an awning out of its path.

As the rubble finally calmed, the air still filled with dust, X slipped, dashed, and hopped across boulders, rising up into the hidden cavern that was holding the capsule.

Taking a breath, X stepped up, and touched it like the others.

Dr. Light's hologram reappeared, of course.

“Megaman X, enter this capsule. This is a massive sensor-system upgrade. To make full use of it will require your entire attention. When active, it will use seismic, ultrasonic, thermal, and radioactive feedback systems to scan, map, and navigate the entire area around you. ...I built this so you could always find your way, even in the darkest hour.”

X blinked at the shift in tone with that last sentence, then found himself smiling gently. “...Thank you.”

This time the hologram nodded, and winked off.

X bowed his head... then stepped up into the capsule as the light began to rush around him once again.

* * *

Dr. Cain actually stood in the command center of HQ for once, staring rigidly down at the master display with Signas and Zero. Iris, Dex, and Alia were awkwardly trying to keep working while eavesdropping intently.

“...X caused all of these disruptions? Alone?”

Signas nodded simply. He couldn't even try to hide these sensor anomalies, so there was no reason to try to.

Zero did reply, “He wasn't kidding about finding upgrades.”

Dr. Cain clenched his jaw, and then looked over. “Alia, where is he n--?”

Everyone paused, looking back as the command center doors opened... and revealed a barely recognizable X. Other than his face, he was transformed into a futuristic knight in armor in brilliant colors now.

“Right here, Dr. Cain,” X answered for himself as he moved closer. His body made smoother, softer sounds now, clearly using new systems even for simple motion. He stood at attention. “Scouting mission complete, sir,” was all he added for Signas.

Dr. Cain stormed over, cane thumping, “My lab. Now.”

X didn't hesitate to turn into Dr. Cain's wake, leaving everyone else watching in varying degrees of shock.

Alia snapped a glance to Signas, and all he did was shake his head a little. X would have to handle this blow-up alone. The whole team would be exposed if they tried to protect him after his display...

* * *

X simply remained grave, though calm, as Dr. Cain stormed around to his desk to face him across it.

“And you _wonder_ why we look on your actions with such suspicion!?” the human started sharply, though clearly desperate as much as angry. “The council is going to have a field day with this! One Reploid generating those anomalies can't be ignored, X!”

X tilted his head slightly. “Are you saying that the council is calling for my detainment, Doctor?”

Dr. Cain pressed his lips into a line. “Not at this time, no. But you make a lot of people nervous, X. I want to trust that you're still the good-hearted robot I woke up from that first capsule, but you are scaring me, X!”

X only then softened his expression, giving Dr. Cain a sympathetic look. “Do you really think I'm going to harm innocent people, Dr. Cain?”

Dr. Cain snapped one hand out to the side, pointing off generally. “You just generated a low-intensity _singularity_ without a power-facility to support the influx! A tremor that registered on the Richter scale! That kind of power is inherently terrifying, X!”

“So you don't trust me as long as I can do those things, you mean?”

It stopped Dr. Cain enough for them to stare across at each other for a moment.

Dr. Cain finally exhaled. “It means the council is watching all the more closely. I'm going to have to accelerate my own plans, and that is not good for anyone!”

X's eyes tightened. “Your plans?”

Dr. Cain glanced down, settling his hands on his cane again. “I have developed an anti-virus for the Sigma infection. It is... destructive to the host, but it works. To calm the council down, I had to make a presentation on it.”

X slowly tightened his fists. “Destructive to the host?” His pained outrage at Dr. Cain's choice only helped him hide that he already heard some of this from Zero. At least how to get information about it had been solved for him...

Dr. Cain reached down, touching a console control. A holoscreen manifested near X, showing the data Dr. Cain had tried to show Zero.

X stared at it, his eyes widening for a moment. At last, he slowly spoke as he looked over the data, “It’s ingenious and simple. You present dummy personality algorithms in such rapid sequence and high numbers that it overclocks the host processor as the virus tries to adapt and control them. The processor burns out, destroying the host mechanism.” He slowly looked up to Dr. Cain. “…You’re killing the host to stop the plague.”

Dr. Cain shivered with frustration, especially with X echoing Zero so closely. “This is the only way to stop a panic, to keep the council from rounding _all_ Reploids up. If we tell the world we have a way to stop a Maverick dead in its tracks, they won’t feel like every Reploid has to be shut down!”

“By holding a guillotine over every Reploid's neck?”

Dr. Cain grew quiet.

X pointed at the screen. “This isn't a solution. It's genocide. And it's precisely what I knew you would do. Do you still wonder why I keep some things from you, Dr. Cain?”

Dr. Cain glared up at X.

“I'm dedicated to ending the Maverick threat without the Reploids being wiped out for the sake of it.”

Dr. Cain's composure finally snapped at the implication of the statement. “Do you truly think me genocidal!?”

X's voice was horrifyingly calm as it cut across in response, “I think you underestimate how far you'll push your boundaries because of guilt.”

Dr. Cain's eyes widened. He wanted to snap in further outrage, but a chill also ran up his spine at being called out so.

“The human governments want an army just to hunt Mavericks down. Despite the risk of that backfiring so astonishingly. Your anti-virus designs are desperate and rushed. You are using scorched earth tactics. Here and now.”

Dr. Cain bowed his head, but stared across at X with a dark, harrowed gaze. “And you've wiped out dozens of Mavericks yourself manually. Do you really fault my effort to destroy them without risking innocent Reploids who are willing to die to protect everyone else?”

The strange anger that etched across X's features confused Dr. Cain for a moment. It wasn't offense. It wasn't aimed at Cain himself. It was almost as if X had been reminded of something that enraged him.

At length, X only replied, “As I said, I won't fault you for doing what you believe is right.”

Dr. Cain sincerely snapped at last, “You clearly have a reason to believe I am wrong! Why won't you share it!?”

“Because I'm more afraid of what you'll do, if you have it.”

Dr. Cain clenched his jaw, but his eyes watered as well. “...You must think very poorly of me.”

X shook his head slowly, his eyes also watering in social simulation, despite his grave expression. “I respect how desperately you want to make amends. And the solution is long term. I can't change your nature, Dr. Cain, it would be dangerously arrogant to assume I can.”

“So I'm simply too desperate to be relied upon?”

“...In much cruder terms, yes.”

Dr. Cain's hands trembled on the cane again, his eyes falling to his desk in pained anger. “...You can expect an inquiry to begin once Doppler Town is secured. Your behavior has garnered too much attention. Not only the anomalies, but suspicious autopsy documentation from your targets. It was all I could do to stop you from being locked up.”

X tightened his eyes at the list of items, but then calmed his expression, and saluted. “Understood, sir.”

He left without further pause, though once the doors sealed in his wake, both had silent tears falling down their faces.

* * *

Zero, Colonel, and Iris entered Dr. Cain's office with a bit of trepidation a short time later. Dr. Cain nodded to them as they gathered in a line, mostly to calm Colonel's salute so he could stand at-ease.

“I wanted to give you, as Unit 00, an important update on a few items.”

All three remained attentive.

“The council is alarmed by X's behavior, especially in combination with your previous findings,” he gave a little nod to Iris, who wilted slightly rather than feeling the praise. Dr. Cain frowned a bit, but continued, “An inquiry will be launched once the Doppler Town matter has been settled safely. There's no point benching an effective Hunter during a crisis, but once we have some peace... he can't be overlooked any longer.”

Zero frowned, but nodded. He tried to prevent X from facing this...

Colonel seemed satisfied, giving a sharper nod.

Iris, however, fidgeted with her hands, clearly feeling guilt over this turn of events.

Dr. Cain noted the varied reactions, and then continued again, “The... ahem, Cain Anti-Virus, is going to be deployed experimentally very soon. Zero, I'd like to discuss options with you on that to... keep things on balance.”

Zero raised an eyebrow, and then nodded again.

“And... it appears the council is also too alarmed for me to talk them out of their Reploid Defense Force concept. Early phases of its creation are beginning.”

Zero frowned, but Colonel brightened up a bit.

“They are moving forward with a proper defense force rather than hunter teams?”

His curiosity surprised most of everyone present. Dr. Cain blinked, then nodded. “Exactly so, Colonel. You... are interested?”

“Very, sir, if my duties to Unit 00 can spare me.”

Zero blinked this time. He shrewdly glanced to Iris, who seemed alarmed, and then back to Dr. Cain. “Unit 00 could still use him for now, at the very least, if my preference is to be noted, Doc.”

Dr. Cain nodded. “For now, continue as you are, but your interest is noted as well, Colonel.”

Colonel saluted, not seeming angry.

“That's all I had for you. Zero, we can discuss the anti-virus, you two can return to your hunter-duties.”

Iris bowed, Colonel saluted, and they left the two alone.

Zero waited for the door to shut before bowing his head, commenting with eyes closed, “So X scared the wits out of you, then?”

“And the entire council.”

Zero nodded, mostly to himself. “So... what options do we have?”

* * *

X stood at one end of the X-Hunter bunker, nodding slowly as a crowd gathered and focused in varying degrees of concern. Airstrike, Inferno, Deepfreeze, and Overload lingered near the main entry; Barrel, Depthcharge, Quickman, and Shimmer were spread along the wall opposite to X; Signas and Alia were seated near the center; Tripwire, Spikesaw, Turbo, and Snapvice were all loosely seated or leaning off to X's right; Pyrostrike, Blast Squirrel, Mapteron, and Warp Turtle stood by closer to X.

“I know it's dangerous to have all of us gather, but this bore the risk,” X began seriously, looking across his whole team. “Dr. Cain has lost confidence in me to the point that an inquiry will be launched once Doppler Town is secure. The suspicious absence of personality drives and system buffers from each of your cases in addition to my... display of power recovering my upgrades made the council to scared not to take action. I will be detained pending the investigation, which means that Wily's virus will be all the more likely to try something truly devastating.”

A pall fell over the team, Alia especially glancing down with deeply conflicted emotions.

Signas frowned thoughtfully, “You don't intend to subvert Dr. Cain's efforts?”

“If I thought that would meaningfully help defeat the virus, I would, but it would only betray him worse. Instead, I have a proposal for all of you.”

Surprised intrigue filled the room, attention fully returning from the various thoughtful reveries.

X explained, “Doppler Town is the... 'safest' the virus has ever played its hand yet. Indirect infections, highly secretive direct agents between ambush strikes, even attempting to weaponize Dr. Light's equipment against me. ...I believe if the virus thinks I've been undermined by my allies, it will become more brazen. Higher risk... for both sides.”

Shimmer angled his head back. “Let him overextend, then bleed him?”

X clarified, “Then end the infection threat. Permanently.”

Signas voiced the question immediately on everyone's minds. “How?”

X rubbed along his chin slowly. “I've been working on a proper anti-virus. It is... complex, immobile because of it, but it would also require the core nexus of the infection to actually work. Any sub-strain or any surviving component would allow for mutation-coding that would render my anti-virus moot.”

Shocked silence reigned for a few moments.

Warp Turtle finally spoke, “How on earth did you craft an anti-virus of the complexity required?”

X cringed a bit. “Let's say I had Dr. Light's help. ...I ...request you allow me to be vague beyond that.”

Spikesaw and Quickman seemed the most suspicious, but still accepting. No one actually tried to press X on the matter.

“One of the capsules supplied an insight?” Alia finally tried to confirm, just out of instinct.

X glanced aside for a moment, then nodded. “That's as good a way to explain it as any, yes.” He cycled his respirator, and then added, “Obviously, this is demanding a great deal of all of you. I can't command what you will do during the inquiry. I would be grateful for any help you offer, but I am essentially abandoning you for the sake of this... tactic.”

He seemed truly guilty. Glancing down, anxious... sad.

Airstrike folded his arms simply. “Do you really think any of us are going to quit just because you finally take a damn vacation?”

Almost everyone burst with surprised chuckles or giggles, even X huffing a wan laugh, rubbing the back of his helmet.

“...I'm honored to work with each of you,” X managed quietly after the humor settled a moment.

Signas stood straighter to give a salute. X started to return it, but not before the entire room straightened to share it. X's weren't the only damp optics for the trust shared in that moment.

Signas took a moment to finally prompt, “With that settled, we should disperse out in groups of two or three to mitigate risk, and we should get back to things quickly.”

X nodded.

The X-Hunters started to disperse out of the hideout, but X caught Alia's eye, and softly nodded to ask if she'd come closer.

Curious and concerned, she came over directly.

“Can we speak privately for a moment?” X asked in a soft whisper.

Alia saw how worried he was, even afraid. She pouted somewhat, touched his arm, and nodded.


	11. Crush and Cut

Gravity Beetle adjusted a few controls at one of the forward stations surrounding Crush Crawfish's disturbingly quiet base of operations near the waterway facility Acid Seahorse had controlled. “Ugh... sensor grids 7 and 10 are still on the fritz. This is what happens when logistics get rushed. Shoddy equipment.”

Dex popped out from under the console to his side. “That's why I'm out here instead of back at HQ,” he delivered dryly before slipping back under the guts of the console.

Quickman chuckled from his perch just above their heads, scanning the surroundings the old fashioned way. Some of the forested area was still present at the fringe of Crawfish's territory, and that's where most of the outposts were holding. “Easy, Beetle. Dex is one of the more reliable techs we have, let him work.”

Gravity Beetle rolled his optics under his massive cutting horn. “Only reason I haven't gravity yanked him out of my work station.”

“Hey!” Dex muffled back in dismay.

Quickman snorted, but then blinked as the two other members of their unit came jogging up.

Tunnel Rhino and Barrel didn't slow down until they were close.

“Are those sensors still on the blink?” Barrel started seriously.

“Yes!” Beetle and Dex chorused with similar annoyance.

Tunnel Rhino smirked, but his tone remained grim. “There were odd tremors out there. Are we certain it's just damaged equipment and not sabotage?”

Quickman leapt down, suddenly dead serious himself. “Kind of tremors?”

Gravity Beetle was already modifying his scans to focus on seismic activity.

Barrel gestured to Rhino, who answered, “Persistent, low intensity, and traveling. Would make sense with something moving underground. Something heavy.”

Gravity Beetle raised a hand. “We've been scanning for heavy drilling-type seismic disruptions, but something just traveling through an already-existing tunnel is quieter. Once calibrated, I'm seeing traveling signals across our entire area of the perimeter.”

Dex popped out again. “Tell the other teams to adjust down to a lower threshold on the seismic sensors!”

Quickman touched his audio receptor. “All perimeter teams, this is Unit 53. Adjust seismic detection down to half strength and confirm if you're seeing moving signals converging on the target facility!”

In a matter of seconds, they had comm blasts from every team confirming it.

Tunnel Rhino pinched the bridge of his optics. “Hell of an oversight. They've been resupplying this entire time!”

Quickman nodded and changed channels. “Commander Signas, we have a problem!”

* * *

The water-edge facility was massive, as if it were a full ocean port, though it had appeared quiet from outside. All the huge cranes and dolly systems had been silent. Large mechaniloids with twin mace-launchers ambled around, as well as cannon mechaniloids.

Atop one of the cranes, a faint warp in the air shifted to look down toward the waters below. Shimmer decloaked, his large optics narrowing as they zoomed their focus. “Shimmer here, there's motion under the water level, but we can't access it without cutting through most of the sub-levels of the facility.”

Airstrike circled high above the defense sensors as he heard Shimmer's report. “So whatever they've been working on is beneath the water. Depthcharge, how's our data from the service station?”

Depthcharge actually swept his legs down at the bottom of the service station's massive reservoir, running in stealth to minimize his traces in the water. “Still not sure how we don't see it from here, Airstrike. I'll have to breach the perimeter to physically verify.”

Inferno, further off from all of them back at the outpost his unit had started at, tapped on the console in moderate annoyance. “Shimmer, what was the main reason your cloaking tech failed in water, again?”

Shimmer replied simply, “Hard to refract photons correctly with the additional shifts in the fluid at the contact point. Forces the generator and response systems to be unwieldy. Would be feasible for a facility, not a soldier.”

Airstrike nodded to himself. “So they're just cloaking something huge in the water.”

“More than likely,” Shimmer affirmed.

Inferno frowned to himself. “So no real way to tackle this without triggering an ambush on someone, somewhere.”

* * *

Signas leaned over the main display console as various reports came in, Dex's seat noticeably empty. “So we'll be forced to perform an omnidirectional strike. It's the only way to ensure no single team is overwhelmed.”

Alia glanced back over her shoulder to him. “Considering how much they're relying on stealth, maybe it's defenses are minimal?”

Signas shrugged. “Want to bet lives on Sigma's forces being that passive?”

Alia winced, then nodded, and looked back to her console.

Iris lifted her hand, and Signas blinked. “...Just speak, Iris, your input is respected.”

She blushed, but quickly went on, “It may be possible to force the cloaking down prematurely, sir. If they are countering the water disruption as Shimmer implied, then all we have to do is alter the water behavior enough.”

Signas and Alia both stared at her for a beat, then snapped back to their consoles, Signas ordering, “Long-range weapons, all units! Disrupt the water as heavily as you can from safe distance!”

Alia was already plotting a map overlay for the best position for explosives to apply maximum current disruption, and sending it out to the various units.

* * *

Airstrike snapped over himself to aim down, his turbine-blasters blasting off a combination of hawk-missiles and vortex blasts toward the water. Blast Squirrel started unleashing volleys of rifle-fire from an opposite point to Airstrike. Cadis, perched on a high tree at the distant perimeter, calibrated her aim, and started to rapidly pulse-blast toward the closer side of the water.

Blast Hornet, Storm Owl, and other flying Hunters joined the barrage shortly thereafter, unloading drones, blasts, laser fire, and then Depth Charge unleashed a full volley of his torpedoes, up toward the surface, before jetting off to reposition and observe.

Amidst the storm of fire, the mechaniloid defenders started to react, charging out toward the perimeter, but it would take them several minutes to reach the Hunter blockade so far out. Soon, the water beyond Crush's facility turned into a storm of crashing waves, smoke, fire, plasma, and debris.

Shimmer jerked further forward, hanging by only two limbs from his high perch as something began to warp and distort in the water. His optics quickly widened as he realized what it was.

“Submarine Carrier! It's a siege weapon! And it's mobilizing now!”

Signas punched part of his display console. “Slag it! We can't let it engage civilian populations! All units! I repeat, all units! Engage, engage, engage! That siege vehicle cannot be allowed out of that reservoir!”

* * *

Cadis fired off a grapple and rode it down to rejoin Tripwire, Spikesaw, and Snapvice as they started to charge forward.

Quickman and Gravity Beetle started to flicker or float forward rapidly, while Dex with a rifle, Tunnel Rhino, and Barrel charged after them.

Turbo flickered across the terrain, Acid Seahorse, Pyrostrike, and Blast Squirrel swooping down to join the charge.

Airstrike dove hard, watching Shimmer start to flicker and drop down toward the water level, while Inferno and Depthcharge started to rush in from the perimeter at their respective points. Inferno had his fire-blasters already primed and distorting the air over his fists.

Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo created an iceslick to skate along at high speed, Volt Catfish belly-sliding after them with Overload shaking his head at the sight, running along as well.

Blast Hornet actually rushed down, and picked up Warp Turtle to charge forward as Neon Tiger and Mapteron either magnet hooked forward or leapt from tree to rock or platform in rapid succession.

* * *

The siege submarine finally revealed it's response in the expected, explosive fashion. Amphibious rockets volleyed out of its flanks, dozens upon dozens of them, and surged out in fanning swathes to reach high into the air and out through the depths as Maverick Hunters started to reach the edge and dive in.

Explosions ripped along the dock grounds, filled the air with fire and smoke, and turned the reservoir depths into a rippling mass of shockwaves that were a nightmare for even the most veteran navigators.

Airstrike dove and spiraled through several explosions as he shouted into comms, “Anyone have an opening!? We have to get to the submarine itself!”

Even X, Zero, and Colonel were stalled for the moment, forced to cut or blast torpedoes apart before they tore the ranks of charging Hunters to shreds on the dock line.

But Depthcharge saw something in the storm beneath the surface. “Acid Seahorse! Snapvice! Fire everything your weapons have on vector seven-seven-nine!”

“That's just gonna hit _you_!” Acid returned in confused alarm as he preppped to fire.

“Trust me!” Depthcharge returned as he started to power forward, pulsing through some of the explosions around him.

Snapvice swirled around nearer the surface, aimed his arms down, and snapped his powerful vice-grips like machine guns. They somehow emitted shockwaves through the water, very much like buster-fire. Acid Seahorse growled in frustration, but knew they didn't have time to argue. Hoping Depthcharge wasn't suddenly suicidal, he lunged through the water, spraying a jet of high-powered acid, causing rippling rushes of chemical reactions that started to intersect with Snapvice's shockwaves.

The chemicals altered the water, and the shockwaves started to reverberate with the explosions of the torpedoes... right as Depthcharge flipped over and fired his own torpedoes into the meeting point of the weapons he'd called for. A strange wave pulsed out of the meeting point, somehow killing the momentum of the other shocks in that area... effectively punching a hole through the storm that allowed Depthcharge to shoot through like a bolt himself.

Spinning over, Depthcharge slammed his feet onto the bottom hull of the carrier submarine. He punched both fists into it sharply, his acoustic sensors trying to map what they could of the inside.

“Carrier's using high-strength titanium-aluminum alloys, but something even harder is in the center of its mass! I can't get a solid reading other than it has to be running hot with how it's messing with the sonic reading!”

Zero slashed down through another torpedo, “Can we get it to surface somehow!?”

Depthcharge started to dodge and weave away from torpedoes again, but so close to the carrier, he examined it as he swam so swiftly. “...If we can cause a hullbreach along the top portion of the carrier, it'll be forced to surface to avoid losing too much integrity to flooding!”

X unleashed a tornado blast to blow a gap through the torpedoes himself. “Tunnel Rhino, Barrel, Spikesaw! I'll get you an opening, you open that!”

Sharp affirmations resounded, and the three Hunters broke from their formations to converge toward X, who started lashing out with chain-grippers, ray-splasher, and homing-torpedoes to intersect dozens of more torpedoes trying to crush down into them, all four rushing toward the dock-edge.

Zero nodded to Colonel's glance, and they blasted over to help, slicing and destroying torpedoes on the flanks of X's impromptu formation.

* * *

Cadis tracked long, zooming to spot X's charging team, and then panned her scope just enough to start popping mechaniloids trying to intercept them. Tripwire was still whip-slicing through the further out mechaniloids, but he watched her shots fly, nodding to himself.

Zero and Colonel paused briefly as several of their attackers crashed or halted from pinpoint, high-power plasma bolts.

“...That's Cadis, right?” Zero confirmed as he renewed his charge on X's team's flank.

X kept blowing out waves of charging foes that couldn't be sniped due to the angle as he replied, “Top marks for aim among most of us!”

Colonel spinslashed through a few other mechaniloids, while Spikesaw tore apart a couple that slipped through. Barrel and Tunnel Rhino just tore _through_ any that made it to them, and shared a grim smile once as they finished a set together in unison.

But then a volley of high-arced shots came rushing down at X's position. Sniper-blasts took out several, but couldn't fire fast enough to hit them all.

That was when a boomerang cutter sparkled through the air from sheer speed, slashing apart most of the missiles in formation... followed by a gravity warp that crushed them all mid-air.

Gravity Beetle and Quickman, along with Dex using an assault-rifle, run up a bit out from Colonel.

“I thought top marks was my line!” Quickman shouted almost jovially.

X rolled his eyes. “Right, right, just keep them off the drill team!”

* * *

Airstrike, Blast Squirrel, and Blast Hornet became an oddly effective team as they swept down through volleys of multi-function torpedoes. Squirrel pin-point blasted the projectiles, while Hornet peppered blast fire at them and sent out small swarms of mecha-hornets to suicide-ram others, and Airstrike kept them clear to do so with rushing blasts of vortexes and eagle-missiles.

Airstrike looked down, and saw X's force charging in, as well as the pattern of mechaniloid defenders' formations. “Deepfreeze, Tripwire, Turbo, Mapteron! Converge your units to points eight-seven and ninety! You'll ease the pressure on the drill team!”

Deepfreeze, Blizzard Buffalo, Overload, and Volt Catfish suddenly wrenched sharper toward X's team, and combined their weapons to freeze and then explode dozens of mechaniloids on the route.

Spotting part of the cranes above the point Airstrike called out, Volt Catfish pointed sharply. “Bring that down toward X's position! It'll crush the mechaniloids!”

“What about OUR teams?” Overload shouted even as Deepfreeze started to lead them toward the very crane Catfish pointed out.

Buffalo replied, “He's right. The angle will drop it just outside of their formation, but will cripple the mechaniloids!”

Deepfreeze just leapt out, froze himself a sliding path, and then snapped his arms forward to start freezing the crane's first right-side support strut. “Blizzard! Hit the second one! Overload and Volt, shatter them!”

Blizzard Buffalo ripped forward and freeze-snapped the second leg in a dash-by with Deepfreeze, followed almost instantly by Overload hammered into Deepfreeze's strut with crackling power over his frame, and Volt leap-punched a full-charge shock into the second before they all darted out to the far side.

The crane came crashing down with a thunderous groan of metal and lines before it crushed most of the left side of the defending forces.

* * *

Turbo flickered past several ranks of mechaniloids, only to snap around and fire off plasma cutters into their backs, opening plenty of space for Pyrostrike to leap through and incinerate the others around him.

“We don't have a handy crane like the other side,” Turbo started as he spun back to face the defending robots. “Tripwire, Mapteron, your teams coming?”

“Oh, they're coming,” Pyrostrike added as he blasted down a few more.

Waves of magnet mines shot out and impossibly arced sharply into mechaniloid forces, sending rippling blasts chaining down the ranks. Mapteron crashed down to his feet, pincer-grabbing another robot only to send it flying off like a bolt into another. “Not all of us are turbocharged, speedy!”

Waves of distortion swept out next, but it somehow ignored the Maverick Hunters, and only slowed the mechaniloids down out to a tremendous range.

Warp Turtle stepped forward, and calmly pulled a cannon out of his back-armor, which he used to shock-blast too-slow targets with a grim determination that made his lack of speed seem all but moot.

And then Neon Tiger flashed past Turbo. “Race ya!”

Turbo cackled, and shot forward with the recovered Reploid, both of them slashing and dicing through mechaniloids very much as hot knives through butter.

Tripwire finally appeared by whip-snapping mechaniloids higher into the air... where Cadis promptly punctured them with precision shots.

“Considering half of our respective units are either airborne or in the water, we're doing pretty well!”

Cadis returned on the comms, “Maybe kill more yourself, I'm covering too big of an area!” Her words ended in an almost playful wail as she kept firing.

Tripwire just answered by spearing several mechaniloids on his wires, then violently whipping them apart as shrapnel into other robots.

“Thank you!” Cadis chimed.

Pyrostrike actually paused as a huge mass of flames ripped past him, flash-melting dozens of mechaniloids. He looked back to see Inferno stomping forward at full-speed.

“We've almost got the area controlled!” Inferno added sharply as he joined Pyrostrike properly.

And then something stranger happened. Distortions of varying kinds rushed down and crushed dozens more of the mechaniloids. With the others already crushing the enemy forces, it ended the fight for their portion of the field.

Finally, Shimmer dropped into view from on top of one of the distortions... and finally various chunks of wreckage revealed themselves.

Tripwire narrowed his optic a bit. “That was a bit creepy, Shimmer.”

Shimmer actually finger-gunned at him while deadpan.

* * *

X skidded to a halt as his colors snapped to purples and grays near the water-edge. “Mapteron! Every mine you can fire, out at the water, high!” And he suddenly unleashed a twin-arc barrage of magnet-mines himself.

Mapteron twirl-flipped into view from the side, his arms wrenching out to send more mines of his own design flying out toward the sky.

X's plan was made more clear as the others reached the water-edge the next second, as a full volley of amphibious torpedoes slammed into the mines or had the mines suddenly swerve into them with the magnetic functions, detonating everything in a sprawling conflagration of light, smoke, and debris.

“Drill team, go!” X shouted urgently.

Barrel, Tunnel Rhino, and Spikesaw dove past him, and used spinning limbs or modified weapons to rush themselves to the top of the sub-carrier. A few torpedoes started to swerve toward them from the depths, but Depthcharge came rushing into view, unleashing his own volley to counter the explosives amidst the shockwaves storming the water in every direction.

Spikesaw jammed one of his arm-saws into the hull to catch himself, reaching out to give Barrel and Rhino an easier grip. Once they were pulled to the hull, all three of them rammed weapons into the metal armor of the vessel, Barrel's arm glowing and bubbling violently from his energy roller.

Rhino pointed with his normal hand. “Full speed!” he shouted through the water.

They charged forward, slowed by the fluid, but each specialized for enough torque that they wrenched three claw-like tears into the massive vessel's top broadside in only a few more seconds.

Snapvice, Depthcharge, and Acid Seahorse rushed in, grabbing the three drillers, and carrying them back to the dock-line as the sub-carrier roared with alerts, and started to surface rapidly.

The Maverick Hunters paused for a beat as the massive vessel crested the waves, but saw a bigger problem just as fast.

Now exposed to the air, the top portion of the carrier was revealing huge defense cannons, which were already swinging around and charging crimson plasma blasts in their cores.

Zero roared desperately, “SCATTER! TAKE COVER!”

The entire Maverick Hunter force, air, sea, and ground, had to burst apart from each other as crimson bolts joined the torpedoes, filling the entire area with explosive death.

* * *

Alia scrambled her hands across her console, looking over the readings from the battle. Her eyes danced across various readouts. “...That's it!” She snapped on the comms. “All units, those turrets are drawing directly from the carrier's main power core! Based on Depthcharge's data and what I can read via satellite, it's the super-dense, hot portion of the carrier's internal structure!”

Signas looked up to her from the display console while he heard the report as well. “Can the ship move while firing them?”

Alia looked back to him. “Unknown. Without specific readings on the power core itself, I can't tell how much of its generated power is going to the guns. I'd just be guessing!”

Signas nodded, but Iris chimed in, “Lieutenant, may I please see the heat data from Depthcharge?”

Alia's response was sending the file over instantly.

Iris quickly checked several things, as well as a thermal read of the battlefield. “The heat plume from the carrier is significantly drained by each cycle of cannon fire! It's using at least 70% power!”

Alia and Signas blinked at her, then Alia focused to Signas, “That has to affect it's ability to move, there's too much mass not to!”

Signas nodded, activating comms as well, “All units, the enemy carrier can likely only move slowly, if at all, while firing that barrage!”

* * *

Airstrike arced, swept, juked, and rolled through a series of explosions and plasma blasts as he heard the updates from HQ. “It doesn't really need to move when it can fill the void with plasma!”

Blast Squirrel nearly got clipped, and fired a blast into a plasma bolt to shove himself off instead of taking a direct hit. “No kidding!”

* * *

From below, X was ducked behind a hefty chunk of the fallen crane, though it was rapidly starting to melt down. “Gravity Beetle! Can your gravity weapon slow down plasma!?”

Beetle was hover-diving behind some crates further off, Quickman using his cutter to slice through several of the closest blasts at the same time.

“Not at the scale I can generate! Photons can still escape the time-space disruption!”

“And that facility-scale one?”

“Even that! It's a quantum difference between moving high-mass objects and _photons_ , X!”

X jerked aside as part of a plasma bolt ripped through the crane past him.

Zero, ducked down near X with Colonel and some of the others, glanced over the crane. “This isn't good. We need to make an opening!”

X frowned as he thought quickly, his mind desperate for some answers. Time-space... His optics snapped forward, and he activated his comm, “Warp Turtle! How large an area can you disrupt with your spacial phase!?”

“If you only need once, I can probably clear half a square-kilometer, but I'll be comatose after as my system recharges!”

Gravity Beetle was catching on. “Slow the area down, so the photons become more stable, and thus easier to shift with a gravity impulse! But we need more power, X!”

X started to suck energy into his frame, Zero and Colonel easing back from him. “I've got the power covered. Warp Turtle, on your mark!”

Warp Turtle spread his arms as he stayed in cover for the moment, his bulbous forearms separating and opening out as distorted air evanesced between each small blade of their expanded configuration. “...Ten... seconds...” he groaned from the system drain he was causing throughout his body.

Zero and Colonel both started to leap toward X as they saw a plasma-blast ripping straight toward him. The crane wreckage wouldn't hold at X's position.

X snapped a hand up to stay them, and they both stared as the bolt ripped through, and exploded... around a bubble that had snapped into existence around X's body, which was still pouring over with building energy.

“How...?” Zero had to breathe out.

“MARK!” Warp Turtle roared as he spun out from cover and rammed his arms toward the carrier.

A huge bubble-wave burst out from Turtle's frame, but it grew forward rather than around him, expanding outward and upward with explosive speed. The entire Maverick Hunter line paused for a moment as they could watch it slow and warp the barrage on the dock-side of the carrier substantially.

And then X flickered out to the fore, amidst the bubble, and his dark purple and gray colors returned as he rammed both arms forward. A black, rippled sphere formed ahead of him first, then ripped across to the water between the huge ship and the dock... which then started to violently yank everything down into it like a mad spiral in every direction.

Churning water, torpedoes, plasma bolts all spun down through darkened air and wrenching metal as parts of the carrier were also crushed down toward the gravity singularity.

Zero snapped over the crane, his buster formed on his left arm. “Blow out every cannon or torpedo bay you can hit!”

Part of the Maverick Hunter force unleashed every ounce of firepower they could muster even as poor Warp Turtle crashed to his front. Blast Hornet rushed down to join Mapteron in yanking the hero of the moment back into cover.

Of course, most of the now-defending Hunter forces were still pinned down by the carrier's fire from the rest of its hull, but enough damage was done on the one portion of the battle. Suddenly there was breathing room there.

And before anyone could shout a fresh order, X jetted toward the dock edge, and leapt mightily, clearing the waters somehow before smashing into the side of the carrier, and using long, boosted strides to dig his boots into the armored hull and rush toward the opening that the drill team tore open.

Zero rolled his eyes. “Oh for the love of... Colonel, anyone who can, with me! X is diving in alone. AGAIN!” And he rocket-dashed off, Z-Saber ready.

* * *

X didn't leave much for his comrades to clear in his wake. With every second putting more lives in danger, he couldn't spare automated mechaniloids much mercy. Both busters kept unleashing mildly charged bolts, ripping apart cannon-hoppers, spike-wheels, and other small targets as they tried to swarm him in the corridors of the ship.

Finally mace-walkers blocked his path, forcing X to rush to one side, dash-rush under, and unleash a volley of mid-charged blasts until they finally crashed over as he flipped past them.

Zero, Colonel, Depthcharge, and Deepfreeze followed a few seconds after, desperately trying to catch up. Zero glanced around at the wreckage in X's wake as he ran.

“Don't see him push this hard that much...”

Deepfreeze was the one who replied, “He's not the only one in harm's way this time.”

Zero blinked. That was the distinction he'd somehow kept missing. X wasn't hot-headed. He was desperate... His eyes tightened as he kept rushing on.

* * *

X leapt through a sphere-lock door's wreckage. It hadn't exactly opened for him like they had in the past. That only told him he was going the right direction.

Looking up as he stood, X glanced over a massive power source. It made the entire chamber thrum with passive vibration, and it was definitely the heat-source Depthcharge and the others had confirmed.

Leaping closer, X pressed his hand to the otherwise burning-hot power system that towered above him and filled the huge engine room from side to side. Closing his eyes, his sensors fully activated.

The carrier was a mobile base, dozens of levels and weapon systems ready to be brought to bare if the cannons and torpedoes failed. And this power source was heavily armored and reinforced, not only for its own function, but in case exactly this situation arose—an enemy combatant trying to destroy it.

Unfortunately for the designers of the carrier, Dr. Light had improved X's weapon system to an entirely new level.

However, X had to break off his sensor feed as the cacophony of Zero and his comrades leaping into the room nearly overloaded him.

“Well that doesn't look breakable,” Zero muttered dryly, looking up at it himself.

Deepfreeze and Depthcharge hurried up, checking it with X, while Colonel braced with his sword to watch their exit.

Depthcharge whistled, “Layered alloys with carbide reinforcement molded into the structure itself. They had to mold this thing in one piece...”

Deepfreeze nodded, grim. “Even reducing the temperature to near absolute zero wouldn't make it brittle enough. It's just too dense.”

X started to glow with in-flowing energy. “You all should leave. I'll kill the main power source, but it won't be safe for anyone else in here.” Both of his busters snapped into form, venting on their new angular designs gushing with the flows of power.

Zero frowned as Depthcharge and Deepfreeze only blinked, then started to retreat at X's word. Colonel glanced, deferring to Zero's orders, which the red Reploid appreciated distinctly in that moment.

“X, we just established that that thing isn't going to crack open with a plasma blast.”

X looked over his shoulder to Zero, quite serious. “It will for this, but it could kill anyone else in this room at least. Please go.”

“You seriously think you can just blow this problem up!?”

X exhaled slowly, then looked forward, “I can't delay any more. Deepfreeze, Depthcharge, please go, I have no authority over Zero's unit.”

The two just nodded, and leapt out of the room.

Zero growled, but said, “Colonel, go.”

Colonel saluted, then leapt out of the room as well.

“When you screw this up, I'm going to carry you out of here, X,” Zero explained easing back from X.

X closed his eyes, and shifted his stance somewhat. He had to try to make sure none of the backwash hit backwards too hard.

Practically glowing with power, X suddenly raised his arms, crossed, and wrenched them open as he fired. One buster unleashed a strange blob of raw plasma energy, floating and building on itself even as it shimmered there, while the other buster sent a massive discharge straight into the blob.

On impact, the two merged and re-exploded forward, immediately filling the engine room, creating a wall of volatile power in front of X, and leaving Zero jerking back in controlled horror at the raw destruction the other Reploid had just unleashed.

* * *

Outside, the carrier suddenly lurched, as if something had hit it, and all of its weapons just halted, the cannons dropping limp.

The Maverick Hunter forces eased warily, the fliers hovering, everyone anxious to confirm just what was happening.

At HQ, Alia, Iris, and Signas were all just staring in mute shock at the energy reading the systems had registered from inside the carrier.

Dex's voice popped over the comm, “Command, what happened? We've got no visual out here!”

Alia started to reply, paused, and then finally answered, “We just... registered... Nevermind, I'll just send you the data.”

At the battle, Dex blinked his optics as the data came through, and then he slowly lowered his gun. “Light's Labcoat... what... could possibly generate that much power inside that?”

Quickman reattached his cutter to his helmet, but remained braced. “...Megaman X.”

* * *

Deepfreeze and Depthcharge jerked, stumbling as the carrier lurched from X's attack.

“...He wasn't kidding,” Depthcharge muttered, glancing back as he recovered.

Deepfreeze rasped through his respirator. “Does the kid ever? Now we just have to--!?”

The bulkhead behind Deepfreeze blew apart around something moving at incredible speed through such heavily armored metal. Deepfreeze was still twisting to calculate how to dodge, but Depthcharge saw it from the start.

Diving into his comrade, Depthcharge shoved Deepfreeze out to the side, but took some kind of huge pincer-slice into his torso. He sailed back, crying out, and slammed into the opposite bulkhead was still being cut into by the massive... claw.

Crush Crawfish whipped his tendrils on either side of his face, cracking them on the flooring, his tiny optics snapping up with a flash and chime as his low-set, crimson-armored body uncurled, scraping Depthcharge up the bulkhead by the huge claw.

Absurdly enough, Crush's claws were nearly bigger than his entire body, and he apparently had the torque to use them, as he was hefting Depthcharge clean off the flooring, despite being a third the Reploid's size.

“None of you are leaving this ship alive,” Crush's voice poured out like thick fluid around pipes.

A crystalline snap resounded, and then Crush roared as he was suddenly taken out at the legs. It flung Depthcharge aside as Crush slammed to his back.

Deepfreeze stood up from skating past below the Maverick's leg-line, freezing the flooring into a slick. “I've heard worse from bigger.”

Depth Charge groaned, trying to sit up, but clutched at the cavernous gash cut through his torso from shoulder to hip. “D-Deep... get backup... I can't...”

Crush Crawfish leaped to his feet, massive claws flowing with insane ease for their girth. “You tripped me up, not bad, but it'll take a lot more to STOP ME!” And he suddenly jumped for Deepfreeze, left claw forward and open.

The entire carrier started to shake from the Maverick Hunters able to open fire and try to create more holes, but that would take minutes, and Deepfreeze had nanoseconds.

Folding backwards, Deepfreeze snapped his hands up, back, and down, flash-freezing the sharp edges of Crush's claw before it could hit him.

The resulting thickness added to the claw bashed Deepfreeze away rather than cutting him in half, and he was out of range before it could snap shut... shattering the ice off instantly.

Crush sneered over his arm at Deepfreeze. “You're just stalling, you can't inflict any damage.”

Deepfreeze shrugged. “Yeah, well, whatever works.”

And then he dove to the side as a plasma blast ripped down the hall toward Crush.

The Maverick snapped his claws into the attack, blasting it apart around his body... but holding him still long enough for Zero and X to appear in the dispersing light. X was already gathering power into his frame, and Zero's saber was burning bright.

Colonel dropped down from behind Depthcharge, and twirled his blade into ready position as well. “Your expeditious surrender is advised, Maverick.”

X added with a little nod, “As he said. Stand down, and you will not be harmed.”

Crush Crawfish chuckled. “I'm curious, X... has that ever actually worked?”

X angled his head down as Zero and the others glanced his way for a beat. “Doesn't matter, the offer stands.”

And Crush ripped toward X and Zero in response.

* * *

Outside, Airstrike rushed down, firing off missiles and vortex blasts into the rear portion of the massive, if dead, carrier. “Blow out the engines! Make sure it can't get moving again!”

Signas added on the comms, “Follow Airstrike's lead, all units. Neutralizing that siege vehicle is priority one!”

Iris worried her lip as she kept moving through data pouring in from the battle. “...I can't get through to my brother or the others inside! The hull must be too thick for standard sensors!”

Alia had noticed the same problem, but Iris commenting made an idea spark in her processor. “Iris! Get a tight-beam link ready!”

Iris jerked, then nodded, her hands flying across her console. “Ten seconds!”

Alia touched her audio-receptor. “Shimmer, do you read?”

“Copy, Lieutenant. What's on the agenda?” Shimmer returned as he fired off stingers from his arms toward the engines beneath the water.

“Do you still have those drones for area mapping?”

Shimmer paused in confusion. “You mean for my camo prep?”

“Yes, do you!?”

“Y-yes, but--!?”

“Can they receive tight-beam data transmission?”

“Of course, where do you need it?” He just ran with it at this point, she clearly had a plan.

“Get one into that hole they tore through the hull!”

Shimmer bolted forward. “TRIPWIRE! WHIP ME TO THE HOLE!” he roared across the field.

Tripwire twisted, spotted his comrade, and fired a chord to the big-eyed Reploid. Once Shimmer grabbed on, Tripwire twist-wrenched his whole body, sending Shimmer whipping toward the hull.

Shimmer slammed onto the hull, pulled a small sphere-device from his torso, and chucked it into the torn hull. “Alia, you're go!”

Alia looked back to Iris instantly. “Send it to those coordinates!”

Iris confirmed. “Signal broadcasting!”

The sphere lit up inside the hall it landed.

Iris clapped her hands. “It worked! Getting data—Oh no! Depthcharge is dangerously hurt! X, Zero, Deepfreeze, and my brother are facing off with Crush Crawfish!”

Alia pulled up other data on her console. “Depthcharge, you need to get out of there!”

“T-trying... lot of main servo hubs were lost with this cut...” the wounded Hunter managed with the comms reconnecting.

* * *

Amidst a fresh explosion of plasma light, Crush, X, and Zero flew backwards to different parts of the hallway, while Deepfreeze and Colonel shifted to pulling Depthcharge back from the fight.

Zero had a sparking wound on his arm, Crush had scrapes along his upper body... and X was shimmering in shield-energy, otherwise untouched.

“Zero, help the others get out. I'll keep the Maverick contained.”

“I'm not leaving you ALONE, X, that isn't how we operate!”

Crush smirked, then ripped toward the two once again, right claw out, open, and glistening toward Zero's neck.

Zero was shifting to block with his saber, but X flickered between the two from a gush of thruster force, and just _blocked_ the cutters with his forearm and glowing shield layer. The impact force spread through X's braced legs, and shook the hall subtly... but X didn't budge, staring down Crush over the meeting limbs.

“Zero, please...” The words seeped out of X's tense jaw.

Zero seemed grim and deadpan at once, but finally just boosted around the two, and rushed along to join the others. “Let's go!”

Crush smiled slowly. “That was unwise. I'll be delivering you to Doppler in _pieces!_ ”

The other claw snapped in, and X twist-flipped between the two huge appendages, elbow-ramming Crush to one side as he landed.

“Don't worry, Crush. You won't hurt anyone else.”

* * *

With Zero, Colonel, and Deepfreeze helping, Depthcharge was carried out of the carrier amidst a blast of thrusters, raw jump-force, and an ice-slide being forged as they flew. With a thunderous crash, they landed on the dock, though it looked more like a junkyard from the battle so far.

Zero twisted with his saber flashing. “Depthcharge needs medevac! X needs backup! We shou--!?”

He cut himself off as the entire Hunter force froze, Airstrike and the other fliers yanking to a halt.

The carrier's smoking engines were starting to sink, hard and fast, pulling the nose of the ship upward.

Alia saw it on screens, and snapped her hand to the comms, “X, the ship is sinking aft first!”

* * *

Inside the ship, Crush Crawfish cackled as he backflipped from X. “Your friends really don't seem to worry too much about you, Megaman!”

X just waited, even as the ship started to keel violently, the wreckage of the power core lifting upward behind him, his feet starting to lose grip.

“What's the matter!? Light got your tongue!?”

Crush dove at X claw-first again. X suddenly braced to the flooring (becoming a wall rapidly), and thruster-blasted himself as if to meet Crush directly.

Crush sneered, angling to snap X's head off as the armored Reploid started to glow with charging energy. Right before contact, however, X's hand shot up, arced down, and drove Crush's claw away while X used it to hand-flip straight over the Maverick.

All this just as the ship went completely vertical and started to sink down. Crush somersaulted into a hard landing, glaring back over his shoulder as X twisted down into a thruster-blast that carried him back to a perch on the 'ceiling'. Water was already starting to churn up toward them from below.

“All the resources poured into this damn ship!” Crush began as he whipped around. “All wasted because those fools couldn't keep you busy!”

X shrugged a little. “You guys don't seem to coordinate so well while losing your tempers at everything in sight.”

“ENOUGH!” Crush roared, his flank opening and firing off small metal bands that shot out like violent boomerangs in every direction. “Your buster can barely touch me, and you're trapped in here!”

X rebounded off the wall, watching the blades crash, rebound, and spark off the walls and rescatter after him. A thruster-boost carried him across the crashing water below, and he fired a mid-charge blast at Crush.

This time, he watched as Crush just ducked, letting it disperse over his body like it was fire on stone.

X landed, but Crush cackled as he dove into the water, and the rebounding blades caught one of X's legs, locking it to the surface it touched like a clamp.

X grunted, looked down and fired a bolt into the clamp, and just barely managed to flip up the wall to avoid another three clamps doing the same thing.

And then Crush rocketed out of the water with tremendous speed, clearly somehow enhanced by being submersed, both claws reaching out to tear X to pieces.

“They really should've called me Cutter!”

X braced, but wasn't just dodging. His optics and sensors were revved to the highest degree while he could still function, and as he dash-boosted just over Crush's claws, he watched how the water flowed over Crush's frame. It wasn't just hydrophobic, the water somehow accelerated while it was on Crush's body.

X landed, Crush twisted with a snarl, and X's colors snapped to blue, purple, and red, his busters reconfiguring into his hands... with gaps in the palms.

“Oh, what's this?” Crush asked quietly. “Gonna keep trying things 'til they stick?”

“Educated guess about your armor layer,” X calmly retorted just before he had to leap out of the path of more clamps.

Crush narrowed his optics, then dove sharply into the water. X braced, but before he could capitalize, he had to thruster-dash away from more clamps... which put him mid-air while Crush came rocketing up at him.

However, X didn't seem panicked. He snapped his hands out, and three drone-like devices shot out of his hands, whirling around him in a blink. Crush all but ignored them, going for cutting X in twain, but the drones suddenly crackled with power and then erupted, creating a network of lightning immediately around X.

Crush cried out in dismay even before he was struck, but his claw hit the power lines shortly after. His entire body crackled and stormed as he was flung away, slamming into the far bulkhead. He limply crashed down as X landed opposite, the Maverick shakily pushing himself up with his claws.

X's Triad-Thunder discharged out through the area around him, sending out a shock of power that disrupted most of the clamps as well. “Do you want to take that offer of surrender?”

Crush steadied on his feet. “How did you figure it out so fast...?”

X remained ready to fire again. “Water is being electro-magnetically accelerated around your body. I assume you're relying on a charge along the surface to push the water molecules, but I don't have the schematics yet, obviously.”

Crush growled, then stood straighter. “I'll finish tearing you apart more carefully then!” And he leapt for X once more.

X started to charge over with energy, but leapt forward, and fired a normal triad-thunder set as he did, all but body-slamming between Crush's claws and shocking the Maverick off to the wall again.

Steaming from the water that got flash-burned around him, Crush snapped his claws in fury as he watched X land again, this time rushing over with light and plasma as the water churned up constantly to finish drowning the carrier.

“You really can stand down, Crush. It doesn't have to end with you wrecked.”

This just seemed to drive the Maverick berserk. Crush roared, and dove into the water before rocketing up at X again.

This time X flowed to one side, just around Crush's diving claws. Crush tore into the armored metal behind where X had been... and X wrenched forward to drive a hammering punch into the same wall just beside the buried claws.

A catastrophic discharge of power exploded out as the entire carrier thrummed with the unnaturally powerful impact.

Crush Crawfish was engulfed in electrical power and throw skyward like a charred comet, slamming into the armor so hard he buried himself in a crater.

* * *

Outside, the Hunter forces had to brace along the dock-line or curl up in the water, as the impact shock pulsed through the area, and then waves of electrical discharge washed over the carrier violently. Several Hunters leapt out of the water, but realized that the charge somehow remained 'stuck' to the carrier.

Colonel finally lowered his saber, sheathing it at his hip. “...The power core was already destroyed. His power is such?”

Zero finally sheathed his own blade at his shoulder, grim-faced. “...Apparently so.”

And just a moment later, the storm of power finally died down... just as the last remaining mechaniloids on the docks shut down. Overload lightly shoved one over with a little smirk, and then looked to the still-sinking carrier, though it would be fully submerged in a moment more.

X appeared, hefting Crush Crawfish's emergency-stasis locked body across his shoulders, stepping out of a hangar launch bay now facing the dock instead of the air.

“HQ,” X's voice came over, pleasant, but clearly worn, “I think the dock is secured.”

Zero and Colonel were the only two not cheering with relief from the debacle of the carrier. Even Dex relaxed his rifle back and chuckled at the good of it.

Instead, as X leapt to a landing on the dock, Zero and Colonel moved up to him.

“You realize you're not doing yourself any favors show-boating that much power?” Zero checked first.

X lay Crush down with surprising care for how harshly he'd hit the Maverick in battle. “If I could hide the energy discharge, I would.”

Colonel frowned. “I lack the authority for it to be relevant, sir, but I find your dismissal of the chain of command disturbing.”

X looked up to Colonel with a calm but resolute expression. “We're not soldiers, Colonel. We're peacekeepers.”

Colonel sharpened his eyes. “Soldiers keep the peace, sir.”

X looked back down, and made sure Crush's claws were secured safely if he reactivated somehow despite the stasis trigger. “I'd say soldiers help if we've failed, but let's just get this one home and treated for now, hm?”

Zero lifted a hand to stop Colonel's further retort, and the austere young Reploid obeyed. Zero leaned down, and actually surprised X by picking Crush up himself. “Signas, sir, I've got the inactive Maverick with me. We can start beaming back the wounded for repairs.”

Signas' voice chimed across the entire force. “Well done, all units. Injured will be recovered first. Anyone feeling up to it, sound off on separate channels, and we'll begin clean-up operations.”

X stood up, sounding off to help, as did most of the units that had members of his X-Hunters. Depthcharge's unit retreated with him to make sure teleportation didn't worsen his injuries.

Cadis hopped down from her perch at long last, stowing her rifle on her back to start helping, too. As she moved along to reach the actually disrupted areas, she frowned thoughtfully. _I trust X, but after that display... I can't really blame anyone for being scared, if they don't know him well enough._

“Something wrong?”

Cadis blinked up at Tripwire, confused at his presence. “Oh! Sorry. I... thought you were way further over by the dock?” she had to ask, giggling from awkwardness.

Tripwire shrugged. “You went pretty quiet on comms, wanted to make sure you weren't hiding injuries over here.”

Cadis tilted her head. “...You were worried about me?” She half-smiled, both teasing and appreciative.

Tripwire shrugged casually. “We're on the same team. Anyway, you're clearly fine. Shall we?”

Cadis smiled, nodding, and started off with Tripwire again.


	12. Doppler Fortress

Depthcharge's systems were just starting to return from medical stasis. He wasn't fully comprehending his surroundings yet, but audio receptors were online. A familiar and welcome voice was speaking.

“I-is it really okay to disturb him?”

Another familiar voice answered. “The med-techs confirmed he's safe and stable. He'll be very happy to see you.”

Depthcharge wanted to smile, and he wasn't even fully cogent of it.

Soft, human hands touched his arm. This woke him up more rapidly, sensor systems re-calibrating, subsystems rebooting to full activity.

His optics flicked on, and he glanced down to gape a bit at Jessica.

She was smiling through her worry, and her eyes were avoiding concerned glances to the massive repair-plate holding his torso together in the interim for his internal repairs to finish.

“Jessica, how...?” His voice was still somewhat weak, apparently needing some of those internal repairs.

She patted his arm again as X slipped away through the door behind her. “One of your coworkers reached out to me, let me know you were alive, but really hurt, and that I could visit. I had to come.” Her eyes were damp.

Depthcharge's expression softened, both sympathetic and deeply grateful. “...Thank you so much, but you really didn't have to. I know it's a far trip now.”

Jessica shook her head, but tears were starting to pour down her face. “You're all the family I've got now.” She glanced down to fight a sob.

Depthcharge was only surprised for a moment, then softly lifted his massive arm with her hands so one of his fingers to gently touch against her cheek. The digit was far too large to try to rub her tears away, but he could make contact.

Jessica lifted one hand around, and rested it inside his palm. “You're really going to be okay?”

He nodded. “Main benefit of being a Reploid. Worst case scenario, they have to give me a new frame. Personality processor and main memory drive are just fine.”

Jessica pouted. “I-I've heard stories about core overloads, and system shocks damaging the...”

She trailed meekly as he smiled again, and used his fingers to gently curl around her hand as much as he could.

“You're right, those are possible, but I'm safe now. Truly.”

Jessica sniffed, nodded, and then actually climbed up enough to hug him around the neck. He brought his other arm around to return the hug as best he could.

“I was so scared once he told me...” she rasped, her voice strained with tears.

Depthcharge closed his optics. “Sorry to worry you, Jessica.”

She slowly eased back, partially kneeling on his repair pod, and rested a hand over his chest-plate. “You're still sure about this? This is what makes you happy?”

Depthcharge started to answer, but his words died before emitting. They shared an intent gaze, Jessica waiting for him to decide his answer, and also realizing he was caught somehow.

At last, he managed, “I-I want to keep you safe...”

Jessica sniffed, swallowed, and showed a stronger smile as she reached up to caress his face this time. “...Just keep that processor open to new ways of doing that, please?”

He subtly nodded.

Jessica cleared her throat, and eased down onto her feet somewhat awkwardly. “Ahem, so. You're still repairing for a while, right?”

Depthcharge cycled his respirator, nodding, and sat a little more upright. “Likely for at least a day more, I should think.”

Jessica showed off a little datapad from her coat. “I could read to you?”

He paused, startled by the offer, and then smiled happily. “Please...”

* * *

X leaned against the railing on the roof of HQ, arms folded. He raised his head to watch Zero step out onto the roof, and briskly move to join him.

“Now that things are slightly less insane,” Zero began, then turned more firm, “I get that we disagree on some fundamentals, X, but you can't keep running off solo like that!” He jerked a finger back to the horizon. “We're here to help each other! Otherwise, we wouldn't have a small ARMY doing this work!”

X straightened, lowered his arms, and replied, “This entire war is my responsibility. I have superior tools, whether I deserve them or not. It was a team effort to stop the carrier. I knew I could handle Crush... Who should be nearly recovered, right?”

Zero groaned, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “X, yes, he will be, but you're missing the whole point. Sooner or later, you're going to bite off more than you can chew, and you'll hurt a LOT of people who care about you or look up to you!”

“I'm doing everything I can to avoid that scenario.”

“NO, YOU'RE NOT!” Zero roared back in exasperated fury. He jabbed a finger at X's chest. “If you don't want to hurt the people you care about, ACCEPT THEIR HELP!”

“I accept all the help I can justify, Zero.”

Zero clenched his fists near his head for a moment to avoid exploding too much further. “...X, we could have stopped Crush faster, together.”

“Possibly. It would also raise the chance that Crush himself would be dead.”

Zero slackened his frame. “Did you really put your life even MORE on the line for the sake someone already lost to the infection?”

“Just like I would for anyone being attacked, any victim, Zero. That's why I don't reach out to you. You'll cut a threat down faster than you'll help the threat heal. Perhaps necessary at times, but I haven't viewed it that way yet.”

Zero narrowed his eyes. “Do you really think my devotion to ending the virus is any less than yours?”

X shook his head. “I'm afraid it's exactly as intense as mine, Zero... and you'll kill for it. That's an unacceptable level of risk to me.”

Zero groaned, but did calm. “...I really hope you learn better before something terrible happens, X.”

They both jerked as an alert resounded through comms and HQ itself.

Signas' voice came through a beat later, “All Hunters, high alert! Seismic activity is off the charts in the heart of Doppler Town!”

* * *

The terrain cracked and tore, geysers of dust and gravel suddenly flying upward, spanning a couple of kilometers in every direction. No part of Doppler Town was unaffected, and that was before the broken ground churned upward from something rising beneath it.

Like some titan of old, a new structure tore itself free of the earth, smooth-sloped towers shattering terrain out around a central super-structure. Soon it towered over the entirety of Doppler Town, heavily armored security gates the last portion of it to break surface level around its edges.

And shortly thereafter, swarms of mechaniloids began to pour out, from the tower itself, and all the perimeter gates as they spread open.

In all but an instant, full war had broken out.

* * *

There was no time to do otherwise. Storms of teleportation fields crashed down to earth all around the expanding rush of mechaniloids, and the entire Hunter force came charging forward to meet them.

A rainbow of plasma blasts, flames, ice, missiles, torpedoes stormed between the two armies, the air and ground ripping apart in fresh explosions and shrapnel. X, Zero, Colonel, Airstrike, Inferno, Shimmer, Deepfreeze, Overload, Blizzard Buffalo, Volt Catfish, Quickman, Barrel, Gravity Beetle, Tunnel Rhino, Tripwire, Cadis, Spikesaw, Snapvice, Turbo, Acid Seahorse, Pyrostrike, Blast Squirrel, Mapteron, Warp Turtle, Neon Tiger, and Blast Hornet were all engaged instantly, immediately unleashing all their firepower with every other Hunter present.

Dr. Cain watched the feed from his private lab, his face almost cold, but tears trickling down his face as his hands clenched onto his cane.

The computer beeped, and he touched the comm without looking at it.

“Doctor, this disaster is on your head. If we'd moved forward with the Repliforce initiative when we wanted to, this would be under control in minutes.”

Cain slowly drew his eyes to focus on Councilor Teagan. “Fighting fire with fire just gets you burned, Councilor, but I recognize my failure here. I... will implement the anti-virus.”

“You'd better, or your authority over the Maverick Hunters is done.”

And the comm winked off.

Dr. Cain exhaled slowly, and then changed the comm line. “Commander Signas.”

“Yes, sir?” Signas' voice was controlled distraction with the madness he was confirming orders for.

“The Council has spoken. The anti-virus has to be deployed.”

Signas knew from X, but narrowed his optics at the comm for a moment. “...Anti-virus?”

Dr. Cain nodded. “I can apply it to a weapon system immediately, but our base defenses are too far from Doppler Town.”

“If we have such a thing, why haven't we implemented it before?”

“Because it kills the host, Signas. This disaster is out of my hands, now...”

Signas nodded subtly. At least Dr. Cain admitted it. Then Signas changed comm channels. “...All Hunters, a lethal anti-virus is ready at HQ. I need someone who can take it to the fight. This is a direct order from the Council.”

X glanced down as he dashed through a geyser of exploded rock, the X-Hunters present all pausing subtly as they heard it. Colonel smiled grimly up at the enemy tower, ready to watch it fall, but Zero was the one who suddenly twisted away from the fight.

“This is Zero! Returning to base for weapon pick-up! I need a tele-field!”

X clenched his fists, and then dashed further toward the tower... away from Zero.

* * *

Signas grimaced as he looked over the battle from the holodisplay. “There's just too many mechaniloids! They must've stockpiled them since the beginning for this swarm.”

Iris, Dex, and Alia were scrambling to keep up with all the tactical updates pouring into HQ from the battle.

Iris blinked at one feed, and then looked across to the others. “There's power building inside the facility!”

Alia snapped over to that feed as well. “...Slagging—She's right, Signas, we can't ignore that!”

Dex heard they were handling it, and kept on feeding updates to the various units out there.

Signas pulled up the data Iris and Alia confirmed, his lips firmly etching deeper into a frown. “...All units, can anyone see an opening to punch through?”

Various negatives responded, including Blizzard Buffalo specifically calling out, “We can barely avoid getting scrapped, Commander! It's an effective delaying tactic!”

Despite how calm and quiet the next comm comment was, it was somehow expected... and a bit heartbreaking for Alia.

X simply said, “I'll get inside, hold the line.”

* * *

Amidst the battle, Shimmer flickered between several mechaniloids, slicing their servos as he looked off to X's position. Airstrike swirled into a barrage amidst the air forces, then as he swept away from the smoke, he found X on the ground with his optics. All of the X-Hunters did, locked in battle just to stop a war from pouring out toward civilian cities, each looked to X in that brief moment.

And X started to glow over with absorbed power, his weapon systems flicking and cycling rapidly. Buzz-saw blades flew free, swarms of torpedoes, waves of plasma cutters, chain-grapples yanking him further along. He was practically lashing himself or dashing through a hole of fraying metal and exploding cores.

Finally, he reached the closest bay doors, now tightly sealed, and his colors reverted as he started to twist and leap toward them in the same motion. One buster fired, leaving a swirling mass of reactive plasma, and he back-hand swept the other into it... firing again.

The shockwave pulsed out through most of the battle, along with a blinding pink-white blaze. Just as optics could recover, all that could be seen was X's form vanishing into the darkness beyond flash-molten metal that used to be a massive door.

* * *

X bolted into what had to be some kind of refinery or processing facility at the base of the new tower. Perhaps it was just a giant mechaniloid factory, and this was the waste processor. Almost immediately, missile-walkers and chain-walkers were charging in from various platforms and conveyors.

Thruster-blasting full force, X started to streak across the facility, his colors snapping and flipped as he fired off spin-blades, parasite-bombs, magnetic mines, and homing torpedoes from quick, sharp lashes of his arms.

As mechaniloids began to explode all around him, his sensors revved up, and he started to map the area as he rushed.

A path up seemed to be the only real option from this area, so he angled slightly, and did a flying arc-jump over another cluster of mechaniloids and spike-mashing pits. Several maces and volleys of missiles swirled and rushed after him, forcing X to twirl and arc his body with surprising grace between them before he slammed down to a landing and fired off Triad Thunder. A shield and weapon in one, it blew the weapons apart and sent a surge-wave back out.

With smoking or molten heaps in his wake, X leapt up to the wall of the upward path, probably a refuse chute of some kind, and started to wall-kick his way up, churning his boots into the bulkheads before dash-blasting to the opposite wall, and up he went.

His boots slammed more firmly into the bulkhead several meters up, and he braced for a second, staring at the wall suspiciously.

And then the wall started to ram him toward the opposite side.

X growled, and accelerated his thrusters, rocketing himself upward... only to see another section of wall smashing toward him from the other side.

He full-power blasted himself to meet it, then all-but ran up the vertical surface pressing him into itself.

Just flipping over the lip of that crusher, his eyes snapped to one side and saw the next segment crushing in at him again.

“I'll give you credit for persistence!” he shouted in frustration before pressing one hand into the on-rushing crusher, using it to side-roll himself up with a twisted-leg booster blast to spin himself all the faster.

At last, he flew up into open air, and barely slammed down to his feet as the last section crushed to the wall. Cycling his respirator for a beat, X looked around, found a large path on one side, and started running for it.

* * *

Zero looked down at his saber in Dr. Cain's lab. “So this will hit anything with the anti-virus?”

Dr. Cain nodded. “It uses the beam saber as a direct interface. As long as you cut into part of the signal network of the target body or system, it will add the anti-virus code.”

Zero twirled the handle, and holstered it at his shoulder again. “Suppose I should say thanks, Doc. Now I gotta go save X from his own guilt complex.”

Dr. Cain didn't try to halt Zero's quick twist and burst out of the lab. He just bowed his head, tightening his closed eyes. “...I never should have made it...”

* * *

Outside the Doppler Tower, war continued to rage. Tunnel Rhino and Barrel churned through some swarms, while Grizzly Slash and Storm Owl covered their flanks. Airstrike, Blast Squirrel, and Wing Pegasus formed a squadron, and twirled and swept through swathes of mechaniloids trying to crush down on the land forces.

Shimmer, Quickman, and Pyrostrike set up platoons of mechaniloids with distractions, and then tore through them to empty out the ranks. They still needed support from everywhere else, and often it was Tripwire, Cadis, and Web Spider firing off blockading shots or weapons to hold the line for a moment while the others regrouped.

Overload sent a surge through a cluster of the robots, Volt Catfish pulled the charged further out into another group, and Magma Dragoon smashed down between them, trailing flames form his claws and laughing with the thrill of battle.

Inferno spread waves of fire out to either side, while Deepfreeze and Blizzard Buffalo charged under his flames to flash-freeze the targets, causing many of them to explode from thermal shock.

Blast Hornet, Gravity Beetle, and Neon Tiger tore entire ranks apart with their bots, gravity waves, and energy claws, but quickly became surrounded themselves. Mapteron and Warp Turtle sent out magnetic explosives and system-warping waves to keep the pressure off them when possible.

Snapvice, Spikesaw, and Turbo grabbed, tore, and blitzed through dozens of other robots.

Acid Seahorse was perhaps the most directly effective. His acid-sprays turned the area around himself into a deathfield, and he just kept pushing it closer and closer to the tower, treading smoothly through the acrid air shimmering his form.

* * *

X started to skid to a halt at a sphere-lock door, but it snapped open as he approached. X deadpanned a bit, and started to build energy before he ran through.

The first thing he realized, as lights snapped on down a cavernous hall beyond, was the serrated spikes that comprised the entire roof. “...Subtle.”

Ground-quaking stomps followed, and X focused down onto a huge mechaniloid, larger than an armored walker. It was bipedal, barely, with most of the 'body' functioning as a fang-toothed maw, with a 'pilot' mechaniloid rigged into the back portion.

And just as the maw opened to fire a large plasma cannon inside it, the roof started to shudder-crush down several feet.

X thruster-blasted himself to full speed, diving between the hulk's legs as the roof crashed down again. He skidded onto his back, and fired into the rear of the hulk with a plasma-blast the size of his body. It hit, but did little to melt through the hulk's armor, and it started to turn to fire after him.

With the roof crashing down yet again, X rolled backwards to his feet, and his colors flipped to greens and yellows before he spin-snapped like a top, firing acid-globules with both arms.

As the acid smacked into the hulk, X blasted himself backward with his boots, toward the end of the trap-hall.

The cannon in the hulk's mouth corroded down, as did part of its 'face', and when it finally fired, the explosion went off still inside it's teeth, tearing the whole mechanism to junk and smoke.

X twisted to keep dashing forward toward the exit, but the roof accelerated, too, starting to rush down him like a factory crusher.

Then X heard distant, muffled tearing and shearing sounds. The roof lurched, shuddering, and he kept dash-striding to the exit, leg by leg, until he skidded out of the roof's reach... and finally watched it crash down with a thunderous shake through most of the facility.

Zero leapt out, feet-first, from an access hatch above the spike-roof, on the same side as X now, and dropped down to a crouch in front of the paler Reploid, just sheathing his saber.

“So how exactly were you getting out of that one without help?” Zero dryly challenged.

X blinked, and slowly stood straighter. “Wasn't sure yet. Thank you...” His eyes drifted to Zero's hilt.

Zero nodded a bit. “Yeah, I'm packing the Cain Anti-Virus, but I haven't spotted any Mavericks to hit with it yet. I'll go up, see if I can find the controls for the army to slow it down. You coming with, or heading for the power-source below?”

X exhaled, letting his systems revert to normal for a beat. “Seems like we're more likely to stop this war at one battle, if we split up.”

“...Yeah, can't fault that logic. If you die, I'm going to bring you back just to say I told you so.”

X smirked a bit. “Likewise.”

“Well you didn't last time.”

X blinked at the morbid humor from the normally stoic Hunter, and then watched Zero smirk, wink, and dash off toward another maintenance hatch.

X found himself smiling, but then remembered what was going on, and turned grim again. He twisted, and dashed deeper.

* * *

X realized he was on an incline of strangely smooth metal, and then looked up to see a gap in the ceiling suddenly shift around glinting spikes. He had to abruptly rip upward with a blast of his thrusters to avoid the massive spike-ball that crash-clanged down and tumbled down through where he'd been running.

As he landed, the entire cavernous chamber around him iluminated in a wave of snapping power, and it was clear he was in the middle of a killing field once again. Dozens of openings in the roof poured spike-balls down onto the constantly sloping flooring, crashing down into deep pits with grinding mashers at the bottom.

X frowned, and then started to blitz along, leaping, twisting, juking around crashing metal, constantly moving toward the far end, where another path lay waiting.

“Honestly, these would need to be much faster to actually catch me, and I know you know that,” he muttered to himself and the virus both as he rushed along.

“So it's just here in case the Hunters got this deep en masse?”

At length, with a final flipping twist and flash of thrusters, he crashed to his haunches past the smashing field. It didn't take long for him to reach another sphere-lock door, and, as before, it snapped open for him.

X sighed, took a moment to ease his systems, refocus them, and then marched into the hall beyond.

The next door snapped open predictably, and he looked up into a fairly large, but by comparison to the rest of the place, rather claustrophobic chamber.

And his eyes settled on Bit and Byte at the far side, Byte smiling snidely, Bit presumably feeling the same emotion in his plated face.

X kept his hands loose for the moment. “Again? Didn't we cover this?”

Bit clenched a fist. “You had help, Megaman, and this time? We've got the help.”

Byte smirked more obviously, and spread his arms out, fists clenched.

Bit suddenly shouted. “CHECK OUT THESE UPGRADES!”

X jerked, shielding his eyes from a blinding discharge of light from the two Mavericks.

His sensors adapted faster than most others could, and he squinted in confusion at the resulting... gestalt.

Now a single body, Bit and Byte were only recognizeable by the coloration of their plating. Byte's body had formed into a centaur-like heavy lower half, armored and clawed, while Bit's was elevated into an almost gothic symbol with a golden arc behind him and a wolfish head atop a humanoid torso.

The gestalt grinned, and spoke in a hybrid voice of the two that comprised it, “We're going to tear you apart and send you to Doppler in pieces!”

X tilted his head slowly, his sensors revving up to max, his eyes unfocusing. Different wavelengths and sensor-pings rushed out faster than most systems could even process, feeding back to X's processors just as quick.

His eyes refocused, and he looked up into the gestalt's face. “Not bad upgrades. I'll give you one last chance to stand down. You don't have to suffer.”

The unified maverick roared, and charged at X with a purple beam-saber erupting out of its right hand, swiping down with sizzling power.

X leaned almost leisurely, though his eyes were rigidly focused. The blade warmed the air against his plating from cheek to foot. Bit-Byte reached to punch at him across their own arm, the limb actually firing off like a projectile to plow into X's head.

However, X twisted and folded, avoiding the floating limb. Taking the risk, X revved his sensors up to near maximum, and rushed in to plant his hand on the gestalt's stomach, then flip around behind it, hands pressing to different contact points.

Bit-Byte snapped around at the waist, sword swiping and unleashing a wave of plasma from it this time. X flung his limbs out to let the wave pass under him, and his caught sight of plasma orbs charging up near the 'hips' of Byte's frame.

With a quick tuck and roll, X dove off from the gestalt's body, and the two plasma orbs flew off, clearing tracking him at high speed. X accelerated into full flickering speed as his sensors dialed down, skating sparks around the flooring with Bit-Byte stomping into the center, tracking him for the next strike.

_Too much armor in the lower body for much of anything to get through, even though the alloy would be weak to flash freezing. The upper body is fast, but has the anchor point. Where's the processor..._

His systems still compiling data from his quick contact-point scans, X kept blitzing around, the orbs finally exploding in his wake as they overcorrected, and another flying fist and sword-wave crashed into the floor and wall just ahead of him.

As X high-speed side-flipped past the attacks, his sensors mapped out the processors at last. Bit's was in the chest, Byte's between the forelegs. _And high-sensitivity scanners in the head to target those weapons. If they overloaded... That'll do._

X finally formed his busters, energy starting to pour over his body. He dodged, flickered, and flipped around a fresh rocket-punch, then a sword blast, and finally the gestalt shoulder-charging the wall in frustration.

Rolling tight to his feet, X snapped one buster up toward Bit-Byte's head as it roared at him, and he fired. The high-power, but focused blast slammed into the face-plating, forcing the entire gestalt to stumble back several crashing paces.

Just as they started to recover, another blast punched through the steam and smoke of the previous shot, flash-melting more of the face-plating off.

“It's NOT POSSIBLE!” they roared, the sword vanishing as their arms snapped out. “You can't just keep getting stronger! THERE HAS TO BE A LIMIT!”

And then both arms fired off like missiles, the air rippling from the force of their departure, the damaged wolf-face glaring in deep rage

X faced down that furious visage with calm, perhaps grim focus, and just as the two hands were flying close to tear him in half, he folded down into a full speed dash, all but leaving an after-image for the hands to pass through.

Bit-Byte gawked in a timeless moment as X appeared on their chest, one buster point-blank to the snout, and the Reploid's expression hard with focus.

One more power-pulsing blast sent X leaping back as the gestalt's body crashed away, headless, the body twitching and writhing as overloaded sensor paths ripped through its entire structure.

At last, the body slumped down, smoking, completely limp.

X pulled a small device from his torso containment. “Marker, encode for secure pick-up once jamming effect ends.”

An affirmative beep responded, and X threw the device onto the wrecked body, where it magnetically locked.

X then turned, looking to the back wall as it started to split apart... revealing a lift rising up.

“...Round 2,” X muttered, and ran for the lift.

* * *

What waited for him was troubling. X stepped off the lift to look out through a ruined, massive window, then along the damaged, dented bulkheads leading on through another cavernous section of the base.

Even more, there seemed to be wreckage of turrets in some of the walls. X readied one buster, and started to move forward more cautiously. Hunters wouldn't have done this, not without being forced to, and there were no other Reploid bodies present here.

X touched his audio-receptor, but got a burst of static. Still jammed.

At last, metal legs tinked and clacked further on, and X quickly focused to see crab-like, blue mechaniloid walkers. They weren't huge, but their claws were already charging orbs of plasma as they marched toward him.

X started to rush forward, his colors flipping to purples and grays before he started firing off Triad-Thunder drones. He became a rushing storm of electrical power, with lightning strikes wrenching out to the walls every few seconds.

All of the crab-turrets were blown apart in short order, but just as X saw a path upward again, shear vertical walls, he also spotted giant maces flying at him once again.

The Triad-Thunder storm didn't affect the maces, but his spin-flip carried him through them easily.

Lacking the time to properly charge his systems, X's colors snapped red, and he fired off twin spinning-blade rotors, crimson and silver. They tore the mace-walker apart just as X landed at the base of the vertical path.

Looking up, X frowned in fresh confusion. The walls were spiked, clearly to avoid his climb, but there seemed to be repair-mechaniloids, built like snails, slowly crawling along the spikes to repair breaches in the bulkhead beneath them.

Looking down and around again, X spotted some of the damage closer by, and stepped over to examine it. His hand brushed along the warped surface. “...Four heavy driver spikes on some kind of drive piston, or close to it. Why would Doppler wreck his own facility?”

Motor-whirring made X look up quickly, and he saw propeller-flying missile-launcher mechaniloids descending to attack him. With a quick flick of his optics, X assessed the painful spikes, the repair-bots, and the fliers descending toward him.

Both X-Busters flicked active, and X snapped his arms up, firing pin-point burst-shots up into the sides of the ascent. As the first missiles fired and rushed down at him, X dashed to one side, wall-rammed himself back up... and landed right on the blown-off shell of one of the repair-bots.

Keeping both arms ready, but not charged, X looked up at the fliers starting to swarm toward him, and he thruster-blasted off the one bot. Twisting and flipped once again, his busters fired single bolts at each flyer, knocking them off course, disrupting their weapons, or just blowing off a blade of their propellers... allowing him to land higher up and opposite, on a new repair-bot.

And so he kept it up. A dash flip across, bolts flying out in precise directions, some fliers crashing down in flames, others knocked too off-course to reliably fire at him. Again, and again... until finally he crashed down to his haunches above and out of the ascent entirely.

* * *

Outside the Doppler Fortress, it seemed the Hunters had finally turned the tide. Airstrike swept down with blasting missiles to join Inferno and Shimmer as they finally broke through enough to see the base of the fortress again.

“Unit 14 starting to close on target!” Inferno roared into the comms over the battle. “Does anyone need help pushing?”

Barrel churned up through several mace walkers, just before Tunnel Rhino tore the next rank apart with a full-body charge.

“Unit 53 here! We're getting close, too!” Barrel returned, just as Gravity Beetle and Quickman issued a combined strike, gravity waves lifting dozens of mechaniloids up, only to be cut apart as a flicker passed by.

Quickman looked up at the end of his rush to see the fortress clear as well. He smiled with his optics.

Tripwire snapped his tethers through another rank of mechaniloids, then dragged them together with a slam, just in time for Spikesaw to tear through one half of them with a tremendous sweep of one arm, and Snapvice dancing along the other half, his crushing grippers tearing them to pieces.

All three of them jerked to twist toward a set of mace-walkers that were just firing weapons at them... only for all three to get lanced through the cores by plasma blasts from further back.

Tripwire smirked, and Snapvice chuckled while returning, “Nice, Cadis. Unit 61 near the fortress, too!”

Turbo did an excellent impression of Quickman, flickering between various mechaniloids, leaving them to fall apart in his wake. Acid Seahorse brought his melting aura near to the same part of the battle, nodding to Turbo as they started to press forward.

It didn't take long for a gout of flame to break apart the rank ahead of them, followed by a volley of explosives from above further on.

Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel joined their team-member, and Turbo used the comms, “Unit 76, we're also at the tower!”

Amidst strange waves of slower time and exploding weaponry, Mapteron and Warp Turtle calmly pushed forward at all times, while Neon Tiger and Blast Hornet did strafing rushes all around their perimeter, blowing huge swathes out of the mechaniloid force.

Warp Turtle looked up, then touched his comm, “Unit 27, also at the gates.”

Soon it was clear that the entire Hunter line had pressed within charging distance of the fortress itself.

Signas nodded, “All units, be ready to push inside. If we use three or four units per gate, we should provide solid cover for each other.”

Alia was quickly checking over unit spread to check formations, while Dex was scanning for any concentrations of mechaniloids that might've slipped through the gap.

It was Iris who paused, staring at her screen in growing alarm. “Signas, sir, stop them!”

Everyone jerked to stare at her.

“Status?” Signas blurted out in confusion.

Iris pointed at her screen while twisting to him desperately. “Power build-up along structural points all over the fortress! Defense weaponry!”

Signas didn't wait for confirmation, he snapped his hands to the comms. “ALL UNITS, belay advance! Find cover and prepare for bombardment! Defense weapons activating on the fortress!”

* * *

X got a couple of urgent bursts of static, but not even whole words made it through the jamming now that he was so deep into the fortress's core and upper levels. He knew he had little time before his friends were possibly wiped out, but as he progressed, he found ruined walls, blown-open windows, which allowed him to see massive swaths of red plasma rushing down toward the ground.

Defense cannons. Massive ones.

But even dashing across that chamber, the next dropped him into a dim pit of a room, the walls dented, torn, and some parts even rusted already.

Except for the sphere-lock door beyond. It was clean, and fully powered.

X narrowed his optics, and then flickered to it, letting it snap open for him. Down a short hallway he blasted, and finally rushed out into a massive room. The ceiling was relatively low, only some meters above his head, but the walls were much further out.

And in the crimson flashes of light joining the damaged panels above, X saw the most likely source of all the damage.

A ride-armor suit. It was hulking, armored like a tank at every segment, and instead of hands it had massive ramming presses... with four spikes on the corners.

And manning the monstrous weapon was none other than Vile himself. If a dead visor could sneer, his was.

“X,” he drew the syllable out with malicious glee, “so good of you to come! I'm going to enjoy this SO MUCH!”

X started to draw energy in, his fists snapping to busters. “You're psychotic. You put children in danger just to get my attention. I can't tell if you're even infected or not...”

Vile tapped his helmet-like head. “The advantage of skimping on those human-look-a-like faces. No little twitches or tells to worry about. SO!”

Suddenly the suit flexed straighter, and the arms reached up. The simple action made the flooring shake. “Say hello to the ultimate ride armor! The Goliath! I'm going to use it to smash you into scrap, and sweep it into a bucket for Doppler just to shut him up!”

X shivered, caught between the awful memories of death and loss, Jessica and Zero, and his own failure when he murdered Vile before. “Vile! If you stop this, all this pointless war for Doppler, for the infection, I'll go with you. If you won't hurt anyone else, if you stop this idiotic violence, I'll be your prey to kill. Just HELP ME, help the world, like you were always meant to, and you'll get what you want from me!”

Vile did seem to pause mildly, almost looking down his faceplate at X. “...Mm. Interesting. See...” His head tilted down darkly. “I always found you pathetic. I thought that was your weakness, but no... You killed me outright, can't debate the facts. But then I finally realized why I just HATE YOU so much,” his voice twisted manically. “You're so powerful, but you won't use it! You put a collar on yourself, and martyr yourself, and KILL YOURSELF for all these useless, whining FOOLS! YOU COULD BE A GOD!”

Vile's cannon on his shoulder snapped up, starting to glow with energy build, as the ride-armor sprouted missiles launchers, and the spike-masher fists drew back with groans of tremendous hydraulic force.

“AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET THAT GO TO WASTE LIKE YOU! At least the virus knows what power is for! Crushing this useless planet flat and reaching for the stars with all your might!”

X slowly tilted his head down, energy resurging over his frame. “...You're not infected. You never were. You really did use the war as an excuse...”

“I TOLD YOU THAT!”

And Vile suddenly blitzed forward, one spike-ram flying out, pods rocketing off the shoulders to come rushing down at X.

The armor was no toy. Doppler had genius to him. X, however, was built, improved, and honed by Dr. Light's work. With his sensors painfully high, X folded under the rushing 'punch', felt the air churned out of its path, and used his boots to blast-rush out of the gargantuan machine's path.

With the missiles rushing down and tracking after him, X's eyes flickered, locking in their paths, and his busters shifted as his colors changed. Homing torpedoes fired off, then parasite-bombs, and finally two magnet-mines.

As X back-flipped, the Goliath's missile volley exploded in three concentric waves between the different attacks, the magnet-mines yanking the last few together to blow each other up. X skidded back on three limbs, and watched Vile come charging through the smoke of the explosions with the other arm hammering down, as well as a fresh volley of his missiles.

This time, X had to flip-dash to one side more urgently. _Too focused on the missiles. Hm. Yeah._

With realization, his colors snapped to yellows and grays before he opened up with both busters using ray-splasher. Lancing pulses of plasma-light suddenly filled the space in front of him, shredding through the volley of missiles, and crashing against the Goliath's armor plates while Vile himself had to duck a few bolts, raising an arm of the suit to block the rest.

Vile growled in stymied rage, then slammed both spike-fists down into the flooring before different sockets opened on the shoulders. Large shells were fired out, but they were too slow to be a direct attack.

X narrowed his eyes, dashed back, and shot a few shells out of the air, but several others landed all around him.

The next instant, they snapped out and expanded, creating barriers, walls embedded in the flooring like some kind of shield device.

Or something to crush X against, as Vile shoulder-charged the ride-armor directly at the small Reploid with another roar of anger.

* * *

One of the turrets on the fortress rotated with heavy clanks as crimson power built in its core. Airstrike, Storm Owl, and Wing Pegasus burst apart just before it unleashed a transport-sized blast of plasma down toward the battlefield. It unleashed a wave of heated air almost like a shock-wave that forced their flight mechanisms to stutter a bit in the air. The three fliers opened fire on the cannon in response, but the large weapon was heavily armored and was shrugging off most of the blasts.

The battlefield below was a hellscape of plasma light, smoke, and flying rubble at all times. The entire Hunter combat force was scrambling, diving, dodging. Powerful shields were blasted into overload in single impacts.

Cadis tracked one of the cannons from a perch in some rubble, and fired right down the barrel, only to watch her shot sizzle harmlessly into the building core for the next shot. “Ugh, it's no good! Even a clean barrel-shot doesn't do anything. They recharge so fast!”

Turbo flickered between a few massive explosions, and finally paused to look up from his tense crouch. “Cadis, link to my HUD. I want to try something with your aim.”

A faint beep sounded for each of them.

“Done,” Cadis confirmed, and started aiming again with an HUD overlay from Turbo's systems prioritizing and marking targets.

Turbo nodded, and then shot forward, starting to juke around explosions, then actually racing right up the side of the fortress, his speed overpowering his weight. He locked his optics toward the cannon that started to track him. “Cadis! I'm going to keep moving at full speed so when it fires it misses, can you time a shot to hit the back of the barrel immediately after its own shot has left the opening?”

Cadis' optics widened, but she quickly started calculations based on her rifle, the air currents, and trying to account for the rushing discharges of weaponry across the gap. “Y-yes! Within 70%. I can't measure everything affecting the shot!”

Turbo didn't respond yet. The cannon fired, Cadis fired, the red plasma scorching along the fortress's surface toward Turbo. He focused down, his systems starting to vent steam as his enhanced servos started to stress. He just passed the heat-wave of the bolt... as he saw a pale bolt from down below lance into the barrel of the cannon.

Cadis' shot ricocheted inside the large barrel, and hit the base charging system before it could flood with fresh plasma.

One of the lenses cracked, then burst apart, and when the jets of plasma cycled into the chamber, it suddenly started gushing power out of the base mechanism, parts of its armor starting to glow from uncontrolled heating.

Turbo shouted in triumph. “You did it, kid!”

The cannon finally blew apart in molten chunks, and Turbo started to race back down.

Signas' voice came over the comms immediately after, “Turbo, Cadis, what's the trick?”

Cadis immediately started tracking for more shots she could land in similar fashion while she answered, “Have to impact the charging mechanism at the back of the barrel before it starts the next cycle, sir! Our fire has to enter the barrel immediately after its blast leaves it!”

Signas looked up in the command center. “Alia, Dex, Iris! I want detailed HUD tracking sent to every Hunter in the field. We need markers for when and where to shoot those things so we stop wasting ammo on their damn armor!”

“Yes, sir!” they chorused.

* * *

X boosted himself straight up, barely getting his legs out of the path of Vile's charge in time. Hand-standing off the shoulder turrets of the ride-armor, X flipped off, crashed down to his haunches, and changed his colors to red and gray.

Vile tore straight through the shield wall he'd launched, and twisted around, his own shoulder cannon snapping down to fire toward X early.

X folded down to his right, letting the shot fly over his shoulder, and snapped his arms toward Vile as he fired... spinning blades whirring out into the air like solid discs of cutting edges.

Vile twisted Goliath to block, but even the super-armor's heavy plating was sliced open by the arcing weapons. “You cheating little gnat! Without Dr. Light you'd've been LONG dead!”

X's colors snapped again, dark greens replacing the reds, and he rushed along, flip-jumping over Vile's position, while firing parasite-bombs down at either arm of the ride-armor.

The bombs latched into the torn gaps, and then exploded. Vile roared in frustration as the arms jerked, twitched, and clearly showed signs of failing to register commands. Sputtering motions ruined their accuracy.

“For what it's worth, I agree,” X finally replied, his colors turning brighter, nearly neon green. “Dr. Light's designs are pretty much the only reason I've been able to stand up to Mavericks.”

Vile brought the suit around, and used the legs to charge again. “And that's why all we need is your BODY!”

X swiped his arms, snapping off acid shots just before he flickered out to one side. Vile couldn't correct in time, and the acid splashed violently across the legs and lower torso of the ride-armor, turning its own momentum into its death sentence.

Vile sounded more like a beast than a robot as he leapt out of the ride-armor... just before it went critical and blew apart, sending pieces flying across the chamber as shrapnel. Shrapnel that X's deflection shield batted aside with little effort as he looked up to see Vile arcing down toward him, shoulder-cannon revving up.

X snapped one buster up just as the cannon fully locked, his colors going yellow and gold. A storm of Ray-Splasher flew up, several shots colliding with Vile's cannon blasts, others scattering wide, but a few slammed into Vile's plating.

Vile grunted, flipped over himself by the impacts, and crashed down to his haunches. He had to snap around and use his armored back plate to deflect another rush of Ray Splasher aimed at his legs.

“Still trying not to kill me, huh?” Vile snarled as he turned with his cannon.

X was braced and aiming right back some meters away. “I didn't have to kill you last time. With a chance to undo that mistake, I have to try...” His eyes sharpened. “That said, you're an uninfected threat. I can't let you just walk.”

Vile hunched in fury. “Who said ANYTHING about walking!?”

The shoulder cannon rocked violently as it fired a rapid volley.

X folded back, twisted, flipped, and dashed out from the exploding plasma blasts... which then somehow converted into fire-waves rushing after him for several meters.

Vile watched X's flawless dodging, his shoulders sinking, but his fists shivering with continued anger. “It just doesn't matter. You're always the superior killing machine with some DELUSION about being a hero.”

X frowned. “Choices make someone a killer, not their body.”

Vile tilted his head up again. “Speaking from experience?”

Grimly honest, X simply said, “Yes.”

Vile reached up... and slowly tore his own shoulder cannon off his body, sparks and hydraulic fluid spraying out before repair systems cut the pumps.

X stared in controlled horror. “What... are you doing?”

Vile made a sound like a satisfied grin. “I had to try, see? All these mods, my rage, I had to try to kill you again, but...” He crushed the cannon in his hand, and then an alert started to blare throughout his ruined section of the fortress, “I always have a fallback.”

X looked around rapidly, his sensors spiking to their new max as he tried to figure out what Vile had just triggered. His eyes widened in more urgent panic as he saw the energy systems to the huge cannons outside suddenly flowing with overload surges. It would destroy the cannons outside, but not before a huge cluster-wave of destructive power embraced the entire fortress... and all of the Hunters fighting near it.

And then Vile peeled open his chest plating, revealing his power core pulsing strongly, and his own system buffer and personality drive specifically rigged against it. If his core went critical, they'd be destroyed for certain. His finger tapped on a third device just above his core. “Rigged right into my power core. Only way to stop the explosion is to shut my body down all permanent-like.” His voice dipped but grew louder and more animalistic. “SHOW ME THE KILLER IN YOU, X!”

He only had seconds. X detail scanned the construction around Vile's core, and then leaned down into a full-speed dash, his colors starting to change rapidly, his busters reconfiguring in sequence. Vile started to laugh, clearly feeling victorious.

Spin-blades flew out first, two sets. Vile kept laughing even as his arms were cut so deep that the servos failed and went limp, then as the legs were gouged through, dropping him to his knees.

“I'm not trying to dodge!” Vile shouted, still cackling through his pain.

“It's not for dodging.”

It was such a quiet, focused voice. Vile refocused in that timeless moment, and watched as X's busters rushed in with pin-point focused plasma jets. Wheel Gator's weapon, combined with Tunnel Rhino's, and shrunk down to surgical precision with techniques from Boom Kuwanger, Crystal Snail, and Magna Centipede.

X precision sliced the buffer, personality drive, and overload device with a twirl of his arms, then kick-flipped into a thruster-blast that shoved himself away and knocked Vile's body flying.

With X still airborne, Vile's body exploded catastrophically, clearly rigged to take the area with him. X rode the shockwave further out, nearly to the wall, and finally flipped down to his feet.

He skidded back, still holding Vile's core components in his arms... as the cannons died down outside. X slowly breathed.

“...The only difference is that I only kill if I must, Vile,” X muttered softly, and then put the components into his storage compartments before turning to run further into the fortress.


	13. Housecall

Airstrike upswept from his dive, watching the last defense cannon blow itself apart in a fresh display of light and power. “Alright, people, I think we finally dealt with the exterior defenses!”

A wearied cheer rose up on the comms.

Signas took a breath, and then spoke up, “Well done, Hunters, but we've still got two of our best in there alone. Work on making reliable exits, in case this gets even messier.”

Affirmations returned as Alia focused on trying to break through the signal jamming and degradation blocking X and Zero from her readouts.

Dex frowned in his optics. “Alia, the seismic readings indicate fighting has been steadily going up the fortress, but the amount of signal jamming would demand a higher power draw than I'm getting from anything that high up...”

Alia paused, and shifted to look at the same data, her eyes sharpening. “You're right. And no exterior power lines detected yet?”

Iris chimed in here, “No, sir, but I've noted that the heat at ground level is slightly above what ambient temperature should be maintaining.”

Alia and Dex quickly double-checked what she was explaining, and then both paused in troubled silence.

Signas looked between all three operators for a moment before speaking up again, “So we have more of the fortress below ground?”

Alia nodded as she turned back to him. “But it doesn't make sense. Separating the power source from the command area that severely is a weakness not a strength of defense. It means we could've gone down and killed the power to all the defenses before ever reaching them, if we'd thought to try it.”

Signas looked up at the hologram of the fortress. “Unless the command center is a diversion...” He reached over to activate broad comms again. “All units, hold. I want a perimeter line around the fortress. We may have more surprises coming, and I don't want us caught out.”

* * *

X disabled a few mechaniloids putting up a paltry defense of a hallway, and looked around suspiciously as the hall opened up into a new, larger space. “That might've stopped a kid, but no Hunters. Buying time?” He wasn't convinced of his own idea.

Keeping his sensors on high, X moved through the chamber. It was almost the same scale as the room where he disabled Vile, though lacking windows.

Just as X reached the center of the space, the hallway he'd come from sealed off with a hydraulic rush and slam of interlocking, armored bulkheads.

X paused, but only looked from side to side rather than fully tensing for a fight.

Out from him, in the ceiling, openings split, and Reploids dropped down in varying ways. X frowned, bowing his head as he realized who they were.

Clones. The virus' favored technique once again. Neon Tiger, Gravity Beetle, Blast Hornet, Blizzard Buffalo, Acid Seahorse, Tunnel Rhino, Volt Catfish, and Crush Crawfish all glared at him, surrounding him in a giant ring.

They each either bared weapons or powered them up, but X remained standing passively for the moment.

“You all know you're clones, yes?”

Volt Catfish sneered as he crackled with power. “But of course! We are just as powerful as our namesakes, however.”

Acid Seahorse whipped his head in preparation. “We're going to melt you down for parts.”

Buffalo smashed one fist into the other palm, “And then Doppler will take the world for Sigma.”

X breathed slowly. “If you all stand down, I'll do everything I can to help you make your own lives. New frames, let you make your own names and memories.”

Neon Tiger winced, and glanced down faintly, but the rest simply raised their weapons or braced to charge.

X looked to Tiger, eyebrows softened, and then had to snap his gaze toward Tunnel Rhino as the behemoth came ripping toward him, drills whirling.

For now, X dodged. He deflected Rhino's arm out with a quick guard gesture, then flipped around him. X immediately had to flip over an acid-splash from Seahorse, then dash out of an electrical shockwave from Catfish.

A small swarm of hornet-bots made X flip back a few more times, Blast Hornet rushing overhead. Blizzard Buffalo came charging at X that instant, while a wave of gravity started to shove X down to the flooring.

X flowed with the crushing force, and actually slipped between Buffalo's legs, dodging the downward punch from the brute on the way.

A glint of metal was the only warning for the giant cleaving claw shooting down at X's neck, and the Hunter had to twist himself into a ball to dodge it enough.

Unrolling some meters away, X braced, and only then activated a buster. “I know you're programmed to kill me, but you also have personality drives, simulated or not! I will help you, if you stop this!”

Gravity Beetle crashed down in front of X, optics glinting. “I'd rather watch you fly apart!”

X started to dodge back as Beetle started to bring his bladed head-horn down, but everyone froze in shock as the blade sparked and chimed off of Neon Tiger's right-hand claws.

Tiger looked to X. “New body, new name. You give your word?”

X smiled, deeply relieved. “Yes!”

“Traitor!” Blast Hornet roared from further off, starting to jet in and fire off more hornets.

Neon Tiger shoved Gravity Beetle back, and dashed out of the hornet volley, using his tail to fire off at several of the other clones. They were mild attacks, none could have killed them.

With the virus-loyal clones forced back for a moment, X braced beside Neon Tiger, but kept his buster aimed down.

“Surely he's not the only one that realizes Doppler's lying to you all? We can end this. I'll stop Doppler, the virus, and get you all the help you'd need!”

Volt Catfish leapt forward, steaming with energy. “SHUUUUT UP!” bellowed out as he slammed one fist down into his landing, unleashing a blast-wave of electrical power toward the two unlikely allies.

Neon Tiger wedged his claws forward as if he would part the electrical surge like water, while X jet-boosted straight up. Tiger's plasma-claws seemed to react to the charge of the surge as he'd prepared, splitting it around his frame. X landed past the wave, but still didn't aim at his adversaries.

“Please, this doesn't have to end like this!”

Neon Tiger dove out to the side, rolling to a halt to watch in controlled alarm as the other seven clones surrounded X. “X, they're not buying it!”

Indeed, they weren't. Volt Catfish unleashed a charge blast, while Blast Hornet started to dive with his spike ready. Blizzard Buffalo fired off several Frost-Shield generators toward X's feet. Gravity Beetle launched a gravity-well drone behind the Hunter. Crush Crawfish sent a wave of grippers along the ground from the other side. Tunnel Rhino fired off three Tornado-Fangs from X's side. Acid Seahorse was cackling as he fired off a fresh glob of acid from beside Catfish.

X's expression fell slack for a core-pulse. Then he suddenly jet-hopped into a mad twist-spin. The frost-shields scattered below him, the acid hurtled past his flank, splashing down into the ice. The tornado-fangs whizzed past his shoulder, hip, and chest just as the grippers crashed into the ice and acid.

Just as the gravity well started to trigger, X actually reached out and grabbed it. He swung it up into Blast Hornet's diving thorax, which gave him enough leverage to dodge the impaling strike... while the charge-blast from Catfish slammed into the mess of weapons below.

X leapt off Blast Hornet as the Maverick clone crashed down to one side with the gravity-well, and X narrowly flew out from the corrosive mess that was the exploding mass of grippers, acid, ice, metal, and other shrapnel in a lightning storm.

Sailing past Tunnel Rhino and Acid Seahorse, X flipped down and skidded back as the clones had to scatter back from their own attacks.

Neon Tiger just lifted his optic ridges at this. Clearly, he picked the right side.

X shouted firmly, “Last warning! Stand down!”

Some of them nursing acid burns or shrapnel damage, the clones glared as they recovered, all of them prepping their weapon systems once again.

X frowned. “...I really did try...”

Neon Tiger activated his claws again. “What do you need?”

“You to stay alive!” X shouted back, and then thruster-boosted himself straight for the rest of the clones, each of whom started to rush him in response.

Blizzard Buffalo charged in to throw a powerful hook at X, between Acid Seahorse and Tunnel Rhino. X corkscrewed under the punch, his colors shifting, as he fired a parasite bomb right into Buffalo's arm at the elbow. A split-second after that, X, still twisting, shifted colors and fired frost-shield straight into Acid Seahorse's stomach. This crystallized over Seahorse, jerking his head back just as he sprayed acid past Buffalo, and into Tunnel Rhino's driving drill arm.

X rolled into his landing as Buffalo's arm exploded and the other two reeled back from their damage. With no time to really take stock, X had to suddenly flip over an electrical wave from Volt Catfish, then shout as he tried to twist under a volley of fliers from Blast Hornet.

Gravity Beetle was sweeping in with his blade-horn, forcing X to hand-flip over it, still under the hornet-bots, and spray Ray-Splasher into the Maverick's head.

As X only just started to stand up, he saw Crush Crawfish's pincer closing in at his face--

Only for Neon Tiger's plasma-claws to grind into it from below, and force Crawfish back. Tiger then immediately leapt up, twisting violently, and used his tail to spray plasma bolts across the Maverick formation.

X took a breath. “Thanks!”

“Stop pulling punches. I know you can take them all apart. They're not listening.”

X clenched his jaw. “You listened...”

Tiger looked back to him. “Take one out of eight as a win, would you!? No one else is gonna back a _clone_ walking out of here. If you die, I'm tanked anyway!”

X tightened his fists, but nodded, especially as he saw the other clones showing all the greater rage as they rounded on his and Tiger's position again. “...Fire a distracting volley above their heads, please.”

Tiger nodded sharply and ducked down, his tail aiming forward to start blasting across the arena.

X flickered, leaving a multi-colored streak amidst thruster fire as he closed on the now-charging clones.

With Blast Hornet forced to dive low to avoid Neon Tiger's barrage, the Mavericks were a solid line rushing toward X's flickering mass.

For X, his sensors revved as high as possible while still in combat, he was already pouring over with energy as he corkscrewed once again. This time, with his colors purple and dark, he rammed his fists into the flooring.

The impact was so violent even Neon Tiger had to stumble to regain his footing. The Maverick lines crashed other than Blast Hornet... and then the crackling shockwave of electrical power followed, somehow entirely focused forward.

Crush Crawfish was overloaded from his earlier damage, and all but blew apart. The others were stunned and jolted back other than Volt Catfish. Catfish leapt forward, crackling with power, only for X to rise out of the shockwave's wake, his arm a spinning drill of Tornado Fang's enhanced format.

X leapt _through_ Catfish, and as that clone exploded in his wake, he dove into Acid Seahorse with Frost Shield, freezing and crushing the clone down into the flooring in one horrendous impact.

Tunnel Rhino, Blizzard Buffalo, and Blast Hornet tried to rush upon X that moment, but X was faster than them. He unloaded acid-splash into Tunnel Rhino's chest, snapped one arm out to fire a volley of parasite bombs into Buffalo's torso, and snap-twisted to fire a gravity-well straight into Blast Hornet.

Blast Hornet cried out as he was torn apart into a tiny ball, Buffalo and Rhino reeled back as their bodies flew apart, and X stepped through their collapsing forms to see Gravity Beetle trying to focus a gravity wave at him.

X aimed both arms forward, and unleashed a catastrophic volley of Ray-Splasher. Some shots were slammed down by Beetle's ability, but the majority plowed through.

Beetle was torn apart shot by shot, and finally crashed down as an underframe before exploding apart.

Neon Tiger twitched a bit, but his claws deactivated finally. “...Holy scrap, X...”

X was grim-faced, but dash-leapt over to Tiger again, and offered a small device. “Friendly signal tag with my code key. Make sure they detect this before you stick your head out, and the Hunters outside shouldn't harm you. I have to finish this.”

Neon Tiger took the beacon. “...I can help you.”

X shook his head, then finally smiled a little. “You already did more for me than you know.”

They shared a nod, and then started running opposite directions.

* * *

Dex rapidly blinked his optics as his face plating fell slack. “What the...? Uh, Alia, Iris, Commander?” He asked as he sent his feed up to the main observation screen ahead of them.

It showed signal data alongside a video-feed. A verification signal from X's codes, while a second Neon Tiger came easing out of the fortress with his hands up, claws inactive.

Alia zoomed in on the device the Reploid had attached to his chest. “...That's definitely X's beacon.”

Signas raised an optic ridge, then touched the comms, “All units, hold fire confirmation. Verified beacon from X on that... copy Reploid.”

The actual Neon Tiger was dismal. “Did that animal Doppler actually clone me?”

Blast Hornet, Mapteron, and Warp Turtle were just near him in cover per the last orders, peering out at the new arrival.

Airstrike sailed down and smoothly landed near the clone. “We noted the beacon. Mind explaining?”

The clone nodded, only then lowering his arms. “I'm a clone Doppler made to kill X, along with the other Mavericks that used to work for him. X promised me help, if I stood down. I tried to help him fight, but he sent me out here with the beacon.”

Airstrike had kept his comms open to avoid relaying manually, and just looked intrigued. X's action didn't surprise him at all, but a clone actually taking up the offer...

Signas felt similarly, and spoke on comms again, “Until we speak with X, see if he'll allow temporary custody without panicking. We'll make sure X has a chance to vouch for him before it goes further than that.”

Airstrike nodded, clearly using his comms, and then faced the clone again. “With the situation as... tense as it is, would you be willing to go into custody temporarily until we can speak with X? I have word directly from command that X will be allowed to vouch for you before anything else happens.”

The clone frowned, but nodded, and offered his wrists.

Airstrike thought for a moment, then pulled out a small device. “Just use this. X's beacon says a lot.”

The clone blinked, and then took the device and stuck it to his one wrist. It locked out his weapon systems, but left him otherwise free to move. “Where should I wait?”

Airstrike gestured. “Just join my unit behind cover for now. As long as you stick with us, I'll consider it 'custody,' if anyone asks.”

The clone nodded, and Airstrike led him back to the cover his unit was using.

Of course, Neon Tiger himself sat back down, grumbling. His unit had to suppress chuckles.

* * *

X stepped through a spiral-lock door this time, idly watching it spin shut behind him for a beat before he focused outward again.

It was a command station of some kind. Consoles, large screens, a few other doors around it, and above, in the ceiling, a huge eye-ball like device that was clearly wired into the entire system.

“...No Doppler...?” he asked the air quietly, his brow creasing.

The room thundered, and X jerked back in alarm... to watch the consoles snap apart and sink into the flooring, while the room split across the center in both directions, starting to expand out. While the screens folded away into armored bulkheads, the great 'eye' lifted higher, and remained watchful.

Dr. Doppler appeared near the new back of the larger chamber, lifting up on a small elevator platform. The towering pylons on his shoulders pulsed with slow waves of power as he narrowed his optics, keeping his hands in the pockets of his actual doctor's coat for the moment. “I'll admit my failure to properly estimate your power, Megaman X. Dr. Light's legacy is not so easily toppled.”

X clenched his jaw, keenly mindful of the clones that had just died at his hands. “Stand down. Right now. Too many have died already, but you can end this.”

Dr. Doppler slowly cracked his neck parts from side to side. “No.” It was a calm tone, but it resounded through the chamber.

X narrowed his eyes as he noticed a strange kind of flicker in Doppler's optics.

Doppler continued, “I can offer you a position of great power. With your abilities, you could rule this world, X. All you have to do is bow to my master. ...Sigma.”

X cycled his respirator. “I know you were a genuine genius, Doc,” he even tried to be casual to some degree, “you engineered a whole new virus just to throw people off for it, after all. Unfortunately, I've had this conversation before, you're just not aware of it.”

Doppler narrowed his optics and drew a hand up to stroke his oddly pointed beard. “Intriguing. So you truly are aware of the master's nature...”

That flicker again.

“It's an amazing feat, isn't it?” X asked softly.

Doppler blinked.

“The real virus. The thing that stole Sigma's name.”

A faint smile showed on Doppler's face. “It is, indeed. The most complex program intelligence I've ever beheld, and it's my entire field of study. I would've said it was worthy of Dr. Light... if not for the limitations.” His head twitched after those words.

X bowed his head slightly. “How it requires hosts to perform anything?”

“By design, apparently, yes. It can't just... control mechaniloids. It specifically melds into the system, understands it, adapts to it... and where intelligence born from self-aware AI exists, it can... unleash it. It's almost like a demon of the old human myths.”

X watched, and saw more flickers. “...Doc, you know what's happening, even if you can't say it. Just tell me where this expression of the virus is contained. I can help you.”

There was no flicker this time, Doppler smirking as he pulled his coat apart with one hand, dropping it as tatters as his red and black armored form glistened in the light of the chamber. “It will be contained in the body I'll make with your parts!”

And then Doppler snapped his arms out, legs braced, as orange-white energy began to storm into focus at his palms.

X reacted instantly, but didn't return fire. He flickered with single-leg boosts from side to side, rushing closer as he dodged each orange, storming orb of power Doppler launched.

Just as X reached him, Doppler grimaced, braced down, and suddenly engulfed in crimson plasma. X had to dive aside before Doppler rocketed past him as a living plasma bolt.

Doppler twisted as the energy faded, the orange power coiling down his shoulder-pylons and into his hands.

X's sensors were revving up, analyzing everything he could about Doppler's apparently combat-ready body, as well as parts of the chamber. As he juked, ducked, twisted, and slid around a fresh volley of the orbs, his 3D mapping confirmed the chamber was now sealed, and the passages available through the walls didn't seem to lead to any significant chambers.

Finally, X snapped his left buster out, firing bolts at the shoulder-pylons.

Doppler sneered this time, snapping his arms out, palms wide, and a green haze engulfed his frame.

The plasma bolts from X's buster stopped at the haze, then seemed to get absorbed through it, and Doppler's body resurged with fresh power.

X blinked, pausing. “...How did you overcome the overload harmonics of the plasma surges?”

Dr. Doppler raised an eyebrow. “So you do use that amazing data processor Dr. Light gave you. I'd share, but it's _proprietary!_ ” he snapped, unleashing another flurry of storming plasma orbs.

X backflipped, single-hand flipped, twisted, rolled, and then boosted out further, his sensors fully focusing Doppler's body.

He aimed with his buster, and Doppler snapped his absorption field up.

It was a stand off for a moment, then X suddenly spun around, his colors snap-changing through various weapons. Boomerang Cutters, Spinning Blades, Homing Torpedoes, and Crescent Cutters all flew out in streams of arcing weaponry, all curving in toward Doppler.

Doppler cackled, keeping his green field up, and the weapons plowed into it, all of them halting harmlessly before the field seemed to absorb the kinetic force of the impacts, and more energy resurged through his frame.

X didn't seem shocked, however, he was watching with almost violent focus. At last, his eyes sharpened. _That's it. He has to shift all of his systems beyond basic life-support into that absorption field. It can soak almost anything, but he can't do much else while it works. So... is the reverse true?_

Doppler chuckled more calmly, finally letting the field down. “I'll give you credit. I think most would be cowering after seeing so little result of such a barrage.” And then he channeled his power to start firing off orbs again.

This time X instantly fired with both arms, even while Doppler was still throwing the orbs free of his own hands.

Doppler's optics flared, and he tried to dive aside, but several bolts scraped past his plating... no green field in sight.

Doppler rolled to a stop on one knee, growling in frustration. He knew the game was up.

X kept his busters formed, aimed down to either side as he started to walk toward Doppler. “I can help you. Doc. Fight it long enough to talk to me. Get through! It needed you to think to work for it, you can punch through, and tell me how to end this!”

Doppler clenched his fists, then erupted with plasma before rocketing toward X.

X flickered, folding just around Doppler's charging form, and fired into Doppler's back with a quickly charged burst.

It blasted Doppler straight-on, and he fell out of his attack, tumbling toward the far wall. This time he had his green field up as a defensive measure as he tried to pick himself up.

“You were never supposed to be a front-liner, Doppler! The virus knows that! You can't win this fight. Please, help me!”

Doppler coughed as his respirator kicked, slowly rising to his feet. “You're... missing the point... X...” He raised his hands, his body shaking, but more plasma orbs formed. “It's not that... easy...”

X remained braced. “I never said it was easy...”

Doppler seemed to shiver faintly while he was there, his optics dimming between the haze of the virus and weary reality. But then he flared out with a snarl, spinning madly to unleash a volley of orbs.

X folded under the first orb as his sensors switched to maximum sensitivity. It was immediately catastrophic, the sheer data pouring into his processor enough to make him want to tear it out, but he'd chosen this to save a life, and he wasn't going to give up before it paid off.

Doppler's body was mapped out to the tiniest detail for X's system as he ran to the Maverick, plating joins, wiring, hydraulic tubes, venting, servos...

Doppler himself tried to keep throwing plasma spheres, but he had to watch X stream and flow between the attacks, closing in a core-pulse.

In a fluid rush, X jabbed fingers up into Doppler's right forearm, then a sharp blow to the same flank as he spun around the maverick. Behind his foe, X punched into the regulator at the base of one shoulder pylon, then the other, and elbow-rammed a set of stabilizers along the spine of Doppler's frame.

A sweep across the back of each leg, and a sharp double jab into the left flank and arm were X's final rush. He halted on Doppler's left side, leaned from his momentum.

Doppler grunted in an oddly delayed manner, then his body clanked, rattled, and slowly dropped to its knees as steam started to leak slowly out of most of his plating joins.

“...All weapons, and most of my motor functions... Well played, X,” Doppler managed quietly. His weary optics seemed to lose the haze for a moment.

X eased upright, taking a breath before he spoke. “Can you talk?”

“...Sigma infected me long ago. Before the analysis was even submitted to my lab.”

X's brow creased, but he didn't seem overly surprised. “How long ago exactly?”

Doppler seemed to cringe, but his systems were compromised enough that he could work through the virus a bit more easily. “A-almost... a year now. Not long after you first defeated him?”

X nodded slowly. “Do you remember enough to know why the virus targeted you?”

“My... field of study is... Reploid frame design, X. From the very beginning, my orders were to create the most unstoppable battle-body possible. Most of my designs up to now were... rough drafts.”

X tensed a bit. “Up to now?”

Doppler nodded somewhat. “You understand. After you started carving through Doppler Town, I was given a much... firmer tasking. I've built him an abomination, X. A killing machine. It's... too late.”

X slowly tightened his fists. “It's never too late to stop something from getting worse. Where is the body?”

Doppler shivered up to look X in the eyes. “There is... a hidden lab beneath us. Far below the surface level. ...I've doomed us all...”

X leaned down, and rested a hand on Doppler's shoulder. “The virus did this, you're a victim. I'm going to end this outbreak.”

As X started to ease away, Doppler winced a bit to ask, “You're... so sure it's... just an outbreak? Not the source?”

X paused to look back at Doppler gravely. “The virus is a coward. It would never bet everything on a move everyone can see. Rest up, Doc. We'll help you once I get this under control.”

“...Just let me... pass, X. I've done so much harm...”

X touched his audio-receptor, confirming something for himself, and then smiled up at Doppler. “Don't give up just yet, Doc.”

Doppler blinked in weary shock as a teleportation field started to engulf him.

As he blipped out, X looked forward, leaning into a full-speed dash. “Sorry for the delay, Alia. The virus has a new battlebody in a basement lab. I'm en route.”

“We've got Doppler and the... other Neon Tiger. You're sure they're good?”

“Doppler should be secured, but he's mostly in his right mind. The clone helped me fight, I vouch for him. See if you can't get him a new frame maybe?”

“Copy. ...You sure we can't send you back-up?”

“It would just put the others in harm's way. I'll mop this up.”

“You better be right, but... Zero's still off our grids.”

X's eyes tightened, but he didn't slow down. “Thanks, I'll stay alert.”


	14. The Kaiser

Just getting down that far was time-consuming, even with X rushing at full speed. It was probably entirely purposeful. With Doppler as the primary source of all threats, his lab would always be the primary focus of invading forces. Putting the virus' secret, true base on the opposite end of the fortress made sense only in that way. That much effort to hide it may have been the source of Doppler's hesitance about it only being a branch of the virus.

Once deep enough, X found the basement lab was only barely hidden. He was, however, deep enough that teleportation and comms were down again.

X glanced around, pausing to assess the basement level. He wasn't given much time before missiles came flying toward him. With a few pulse-blasts and a blast of thrusters, X was flitting between the missiles while others exploded.

Missile launcher mechaniloids, adhered to platforms and bulkheads all around the large 'hall' X was following, continued to fire volleys at him. X changed colors, firing off one gravity-well. The missiles started to get sucked down into it, and he built up power while his weapon changed again.

Flipping over the exploding, compressing mass of missiles, X landed, red and white, and unleashed an empowered version of the spinning blades. It was a massive, single spinner, larger than he was himself, and it extended on an elastic-style polymer chord. X wrenched his arm as he dashed and flitted about. The tremendous death yo-yo of a weapon snapped from point to point, roaring from its size and speed, splitting the mechaniloids to pieces.

X dropped to a heavy landing, crouching, with his weapon arm across his front. The blade tore through one last mechaniloids, and then the chord and blade went limp before starting to deteriorate into useless components.

Shifting his colors back, X stood up, eyeing a set of service ladders going up to a heavily armored chamber above. His sensors were having difficulty reading much from it.

“It's me.”

X was glad Zero said something, because the sudden awareness of another Reploid had X snapping around, just shy of aiming his buster thanks to the voice.

Zero stood just out of the shadows some distance from the ladder's other side.

X cycled his respirator. “Surprised you're not in the middle of a brawl with Sigma.”

Zero half-smiled. “Was deciding my plan of attack when explosions started down the hallway.” Then he turned more serious, gesturing up at his sheathed Z-saber. “I have the anti-virus installed, but by this point you've fought Sigma more than I have. Should we just hit him hard from the get-go, or should I hold back?”

X blinked. He hadn't expected Zero to be so... flexible on the tactics needed for this fight. “Doppler indicated the new battlebody he made for the virus is extremely powerful. Probably best to save our trump card for a surprise. I'll hit first.”

Zero nodded. “That chamber above is massive, like a tower below ground. Leads almost all the way up to surface level. Think you can hold out enough for me to get up top?”

X tipped his head. “I believe so.”

Zero gave a mild salute, casual in form, and bolted back into the shadows.

X looked up again, and then started to climb the ladder.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, as soon as X stepped off the ladder onto the floor of the towering chamber Zero had mentioned, the ladder itself was locked off by a rapid-shutting hydraulic bulkhead. He specifically kept his hands out instead of his busters as he looked around. His sensors confirmed the design Zero explained, with the chamber, though not tremendously wide, stretching upward dozens of meters into pitch darkness.

He also sensed a Reploid body dropping toward him. X boosted back, placing himself opposite the other's landing point.

Sigma crashed down to his haunches with a faint smile. His head kept the usual design with a bald head, a crimson forehead gem, and a formidable, square jaw. He seemed built to sneer.

His body, however, was quite different from before. Thinner, taller. He rose up to a commanding height, at least twice X's, with a thin cape of metallic strands down his back, and a large, rippled shield hanging from his left hand. The right hand was replaced fully with some kind of large-barrel buster weapon.

“Megaman X, you never disappoint.”

X sharpened his eyes. “You can stand down, Sigma. I know you're just a clone fabricated by the virus. You can be your own Reploid if you power down for me now.”

Sigma frowned grimly this time, none of his usual proud humor. “You do seem to know more than I expected. Though I doubt it's quite as much as you think. It will be inevitable. Your defeat by my hand. Simply from attrition.” Some kind of power ignited within his buster, burning with orangish light. “You'll run out of allies sooner or later. When you're truly alone, you'll break.”

It did rouse nightmares within X, but X faced those daily. He only remained serious himself. “So you believe I'm simply unaware of your nature? That I won't be able to track all of you down before you wear me down?”

Sigma nodded. “So you have been paying attention. Good. I'm still furious you've delayed me so long.” He abruptly braced, shield held up and back, buster forward, optics manic and predatory. “I know things that would bring you to your knees!”

Sigma fired a volley. Burning streams of unstable plasma, which flew at insane velocity for how fluid and amorphous they appeared to be.

X was prepared for a vicious fight, however. He flickered, warped, and closed toward Sigma with every shot. “So why hold back?” More dodging. “You want me on my knees, don't you?”

“Simple!” Sigma roared back. “I want to see what this new body can do, first!”

X flickered right up to Sigma's side, but the fire-buster was aiming straight at his face, Sigma sneering fully down his own arm over it. X booster-blasted himself back out before the shot could sear through his head.

And he instantly had to fold backward as the shield came ripping at his neckline. It sang across his chest and face with his dodge, and X watched it arc through the air on its own power. He had to twist over and boost away from a second pass before it finally returned to Sigma's waiting arm.

“I've had to wait in hiding so long, I want to enjoy this!” Sigma taunted, finally bursting into a clearly manic laugh.

X braced partially, and just as Sigma started to aim his fire-buster, ripped forward at full speed. Sigma blinked, and immediately wrenched his shield down into a low throw that would rebound upward if X tried to undo his committed rush.

“So forward this time--!?” Sigma cut himself as X twisted just aside from the driving shield.

It all but scrapped along X's front, and X raised a leg to re-boost himself back at Sigma... jamming one buster against the head with an uncharged blast.

Sigma barked, stumbling away with smoke and char on the side of his head, but he wasn't a complete fool. The shield was already rebounding thrice back to X, and Sigma was aiming his buster up at the Reploid even while reeling from the hit.

X was too far to deliver a point blank follow-up, so he had to dodge. He flipped backward under the shield, barely avoiding it again, then had to twist, booster-corkscrew, and rush toward Sigma between the fire-plasma blasts the Maverick leader was unleashing.

Sigma gritted his teeth, spinning just enough to reach to his shield as it returned, still firing under the grab, and immediately drove his shield down at X's diving mass.

X actually had to snap his hands up to grip the edge of the shield as he twisted under it again. This time, Sigma started to twist his buster-arm down at the elbow so he could fire straight into X's flank.

X drove one arm up between Sigma's limbs, while his legs boosted below folded knees. It effectively sideways-somersaulted him backwards... just as he fired into Sigma's face.

Sigma's blasts hit the flooring, the shield swung backwards, and then both arms fell forward as the impact from X's shot made him reel.

X didn't let up, boost-coasting around at full speed to put himself behind Sigma. Aiming right into Sigma's upper back, energy started to build in his frame.

Blind for the moment, Sigma wasn't helpless. He gave a roar of effort as he swept the shield backwards to throw it. That forced X to twist away instead of firing.

While the shield bounced off the wall, Sigma aimed down at X's twisting form, and fired a volley of blasts.

X had to fully back-flip, stand on one hand, twist, and as the blasts sailed around his body in all directions, he drove his hand up with the end of his flip, just barely deflecting the shield up higher rather than having it crash into his side.

Sigma glared as his optics cleared enough to see again. He caught the returning shield, and kept his buster ready, while X cycled his respirator heavily, waiting, watching.

After that moment, Sigma suddenly blurred from raw mechanical speed, whipping his shield at the wall behind him. As it started to bounce at nearly sonic speed around the walls, he opened fire with his buster, starting to leap skyward.

X had to dance madly around the shield ricochets as such speed, regularly only touching the ground with a single hand or foot, and the plasma flares from Sigma were spreading over the ground like little shockwaves, giving X all the more he had to jump, hop, flip, and twist over.

“There's only so much a processor can take! Even if it was made by Dr. Light!” Sigma taunted as he finally reached the opposite wall, rebounding with his legs to continue his barrage.

X couldn't argue the point, pushed as close to his limits as he already was, but that wasn't the only thing keeping him occupied.

_This body is impressive, but it can't be what Doppler was worried about. It has variations on Vile's new body, as well as Bit and Byte's weapons combined into the shield and plasma buster._

X twist-fell through a set of plasma-flares and the rebounding shield, allowing his eyes to lock on Sigma's maliciously pleased expression.

“So where's the real body?”

It had the desired effect.

Sigma caught his shield, landing with a dark set to his face. X seemed worn, down on one knee, panting, but his eyes were razor focused.

“Are you presuming to TOY WITH ME, X!?” Sigma abruptly roared with animalistic intensity, his frame shaking from the vehemence.

X slowly stood up, seeming heavy on his joints, but mobile. “Not at all. That body is impressive, but it's not even the most powerful frame you've used before. I see the logic in focusing on agility and area control, but that wouldn't strike fear into the hearts of humanity. You want your prey to suffer, don't you?” His eyes sharpened, his intent truly addressing the virus itself rather than the clone-body host. In Sigma's case, it was almost the same creature with how directly the virus puppeted the identity it stole from Signas.

Sigma clenched his one fist harshly enough to cause metal creaking. “...What happened to that naive young Hunter I knew so well, hm?”

X snapped both arms into busters. “He has too much blood on his hands.” He started to draw energy in, plasma building around his frame from the sudden flux of power flow.

Sigma sneered out of his rage. “Turning into one of us, after all, X?”

X twitched, but nodded. “That's a very real danger, yes.”

They both flickered into attacks, Sigma wrenching his shield down while firing with his buster, X's right arm firing... but it was strange this time.

X's blast was an amorphous mass of multi-color plasma, Sigma watching his plasma flares crash into it and actually get sucked inside it.

“I need to neutralize that other body, Sigma, I can't play games anymore today!” X shouted in explanation... driving his other buster forward, and firing again.

The intense blast of plasma somehow ignited the cloud of it already in the air. It was the key to his cross-charge blast Dr. Light gave him.

Catastrophic plasma energy, shockwaves, and heat erupted, engulfing the side of the towering room instantly before back-blasting around X.

As the energy finally settled, the entire chamber steaming around X's grim expression, only a faint flicker of dust remained of Sigma's initial body.

“Now that... was downright murderous, X.”

Sigma's voice resounded throughout the chamber, echoing from above.

X looked up, only to widen his gaze. He had to leap back just before the chamber thundered.

A hulking beast of a body crashed down to its haunches, taking up nearly a third of the floor unto itself, leaving dents in the flooring that had survived X's blast.

Sigma widened his stance, the huge boots compressing with loud rushes of hydraulics, heavy, bulbous arms lowering down on the sides. The chest was a tiger-like facade with glowing optics of its own. More obvious than his actual head were the tremendous shoulder mechanisms that resembled some kind of thrusters aimed to the sides. His actual head was down between the base of the shoulders, already sneering again.

“And what if I stood down now, hm?” Sigma challenged, his voice reverberating up the chamber.

X clenched his fists for a moment. “As long as you disabled your weapons, I'd help you.”

Sigma laughed. “You mean THESE!?”

Segments down his back opened, unleashing a volley of missiles upward, while bomb-drones fired out of his huge shoulders. Additionally, chunks of his arms separated and rotated forward, starting to charge huge waves of plasma that would span the room.

X's eyes flickered across all the projectiles, then the fields of building plasma discharge. He had to fold back with a twist to dodge the first missile, thruster-blasting himself along the floor stride by stride.

Bomb-drones swept down for him, just shy due to his sheer speed, and exploded with shocks of force and fire in his wake. All the while, missiles were hammering into the wall and flooring nearest him.

Sigma twisted, his optics tracking X with a malicious expression of satisfaction. “Can you dodge THIS!?”

And the discharge fields ignited. Sigma was a towering island amidst an almost instantly growing ocean of volatile plasma.

But X appeared rocketing straight out of the field, backflipping at the end of the boost to crouch against the wall from his inertia.

Sigma roared, starting to aim his weapons back toward X.

X leapt off the wall, thrusters firing full force. He was carried to Sigma just as the missiles and bomb drones were airborne. X hand-flipped off Sigma's right shoulder-launcher. It confused the bombs and missiles enough to make several fly upward and crash into high walls, the rest exploding around X as he slammed to his haunches against the opposite wall.

Sigma had his plasma field emitters aimed up this time. “So busy dodging!”

X was grim, not panicked, watching the fields stretch out and wide, engulfing everything above Sigma's waistline.

As the fields ignited, X just let himself drop... and draw in energy.

Sigma cackled within his own storm as the power ignited. He held it for several seconds, and only dispersed it after. His optics promptly widened in shocked alarm.

X was down on one knee, but was absolutely overflowing with power. Excess plasma was coiling and writhing off every centimeter of his frame, his optics all but glowing from the background charge in his entire system.

“Seems you modeled those field emitters a little too closely to my buster system. It's practically a buffet.” Even his voice was distorted by the overload in his system.

Sigma wrenched his arms back and roared in fury once more. This time missiles and bomb drones utterly filled the air, spiraling around him like a storm. “Come on then! Let's finish this!”

X lunged to his other leg, arms crossing. His vision was filled with warnings and alerts about his overcharge, pain surging through him, but he roared against it to keep his focus.

As the missiles and bombs started to writhe outward to annihilate him, X snapped his arms out, firing both as they uncrossed.

Blindingly brilliant swathes of light burst at the meeting point, and continued to draw from his busters as they spread out to the sides, coiling and rebuilding on themselves as nanoseconds ticked by.

The resulting discharge engulfed the direction beyond X, stormed up the entire massive chamber, and curved back around, nearly encasing X himself.

X sank to his knees, his respirator pulsing desperately to help cool his overtaxed systems. The energy began to fade more and more, leaving distorted air evanescing from heat and steam purling off the surfaces around him.

At last, Sigma was visible. The hulking frame was charred dark in many areas. Some seemed to have withstood the onslaught of power, but the head that had been roaring was practically skeletal remains.

The big body started to crash down, and parts of it shattered off as it settled limply on the now shaking floor.

X started to push himself up, but his eyes widened as Sigma's voice roared from the distance, and seemed to close in from above again.

At the same time, his sensors registered a tremendous spike in temperature under his feet. X snapped his eyes down, realizing the flooring was starting to shimmer with raw heat. As he dashed violently to the closest wall, a darkly familiar shape dropped down into view.

Sigma's hard-light projection. The skeletal version of his face that had tried to consume and infect X during the X-Hunter debacle.

“I'd apologize for rigging the game, X, but you seem more than up to the CHALLENGE!”

The hard-light construction rushed at X, maw open. X had to ram-jump his boots, trading legs, with fully blasting thrusters, just to climb the wall fast enough not to get enveloped again.

“Neat trick. I can't even find the projectors!”

X had to leap back and boost skyward as Sigma tried to ram him again during the quick retort.

Sigma growled as he missed again, and started to chase X higher... as the floor below liquefied into molten metal, rapidly decomposing into an orange-white flood surging upward after them both.

X kept thruster-blasting himself stride by stride, digging his boots into the bulkhead with each desperate drive up. Sometimes he had to jerk diagonally, zig-zagging, as the hardlight construct tried to bash, absorb, and infect him. Unfortunately, the molten heat from below was rising so fast, he could spare little time to actually try to disrupt the image.

Sigma floated upward parallel to X for a few seconds, glaring. “Simple enough, X. This entire chamber is a massive, contained projection system. You'll also find it makes me significantly more durable than our last encounter!”

The wall jutted inward just above X, and Sigma used this, blitzing toward X with tremendous speed. X strained with effort, thruster-blasting himself off the wall, into a backflip just over Sigma's head.

In the open air, X ignited his thrusters again before he started to fully drop, flying higher and able to catch grip on the new, closer wall without falling to his death.

He heard Sigma's frustrated roar as the molten metal engulfed the hardlight, but X had to keep rushing higher and higher. He finally saw an opening to one side, and sped for it.

Tumbling into a side-roll from pure desperate speed, X charged down the hallway he'd found, needing another path up, but literally screeched, sparking metal, to a halt as his eyes widened at a clear dead-end.

Strangely, he sensed something, and twisted. The molten surge stopped just a meter or so from the lip of the hall he was in that moment. His brow creased.

Sigma's hardlight form returned, just above and ahead of X with a satisfied smile displayed. “It took an entire facility of incredibly expensive resources to trap you, but I find it entirely worth it for this final moment, X. Once I infect you, I'll become the most powerful thing in this world. Surpassing his last creation...”

X's expression became almost dismally dark, and his busters snapped into form... with different weapons. Tornado fangs were ready in one, the other ready to use frost-shield. “I won't let you threaten the world like that. I know you and I aren't done yet, but you're not gaining more.”

Sigma grinned, then started to rush down at X with open maw. That was when green light sparked above, making both Sigma and X jerk to stare up at it.

Green plasma ripped through the ceiling, and instantly wrenched around in a ring. Something slammed it down violently, and Sigma had to jerk his form to one side.

Zero was riding the chunk of bulkhead down, ponytail streaming, Z-Saber out, and eyes locked on Sigma's digital face.

Sigma started to roar, but Zero snapped his arm across.

It seemed to do nothing at first, Zero finally landing to sheath his blade. Then Sigma's form warped, shivered, and started to writhe into broken shapes and frustrated shouting.

X slightly eased, glancing between the two.

Zero finally smirked. “A Sigma Anti-Virus. Hardlight has some pitfalls, Sigma. If you're solid enough to hit something else, there's a trail of data to backhack. I figure you've got about... oh, ten seconds? Before whatever processor you're hosted on here is completely overloaded.”

Sigma growled and snarled, the eyes of his form locking on Zero. “I... know your... secret... You're destined... to...”

And his shape finally burst apart, in the same moment as the facility starting to rumble violently.

Zero twisted to X. “Place is going down without his processor to keep it stable!”

X reverted his colors and hands. “Make enough of a path for a teleporter signal?”

Zero shook his head. “But follow me, we'll get to a high enough point this way!”

Zero boosted himself into a vertical leap, X following instantly, the two rushing along together.

Rushing through the ventilation and service tunnels Zero had been using, gouts of flame and chunks of debris forced each Replid to twist, leap, dive, and juke as their thrusters continuously traded blasts, striving for enough elevation to cut through the facility's physical dampening.

“Why do virus bases always start blowing themselves up, anyway!?” Zero had to gripe in controlled anxiety.

X had to chuckle a bit, breathless as he was. “Makes you wonder how much worse their armies could be if they spared the resources, huh?”

“Good point! I rescind my complaint!” Zero barked back as he ducked a pillar crashing down into their current path.

X slid under the pillar in Zero's wake, when his comm line finally crackled.

“--X! ...an you... ead me!?”

“Comms almost solid! Alia's trying to reach us!” X reported quickly, then used his internal systems to reply. //We're trying to reach teleport range!//

The channel expanded as Zero touched his head as well.

Alia returned, “Thank Light! Okay! You need... ten meters up!”

Zero skidded, whipping his beam saber out. “X! I'll weaken a point, you blow it!”

X started building power, both arms snapping into busters. “Hold, Alia!” he added quickly.

“Copy, any reason to delay teleport if I read you both?”

“Nope!”

“Ready!”

Zero was already airborne, leaping high and X-slashing the ceiling with a quick blur of his form. He landed into a roll out of X's way.

X braced, crossed his arms, and then lashed them out as he fired. Zero stared in mild awe as the plasma cloud and trigger blast ignited, but somehow focused into a tight, blindingly bright beam into his X-cut in the ceiling. The backblast made all the dust and debris around X pitch up into the air, but, just as fast, it was clear X had torn a massive hole upward.

“Sides are too hot, one second!” X continued, his busters changing. He suddenly fired several shots of frost-shield up, into the tunnel.

Zero watched, and raised an eyebrow as frost shield turned into alternating little foot-catches near hypercooled metal. “...Looks good, go!”

X boosted up, Zero behind, and they leaped from point to point. Zero blinked, then smiled as X leapt up, only to vanish into a teleportation field. Zero made the same jump, and felt the energy wash over him.


	15. Consequences and Changes

“We've got them! X and Zero are safe! Maverick forces are disabled!”

It was Dex's voice that rang through the comms of the entire Hunter force, in HQ and around the collapsing, imploding fortress. Airstrike, Inferno, and Shimmer were among the first to raise their arms with a holler of relief and victory.

Quickman, Barrel, Gravity Beetle, and Tunnel Rhino raised arms, but were also sagging from exhaustion now that they could finally break cover for a real breather.

“Is it always this close to the wire?” Rhino had to ask.

Barrel snorted, “Yeah, just about.”

Tripwire elbowed Cadis playfully after she gave a loud cheer. She blushed and nudged him back as Spikesaw and Snapvice mutually shook their heads at the two.

Turbo actually flopped onto his back as Acid Seahorse chuckled, Pyrostrike and Blast Squirrel smirking as they let their respirators catch up.

Mapteron was uniquely stoic, though pleased, as Warp Turtle eased down for a leisurely rest. Blast Hornet folded his wings into passive function as he blinked between the two of them. “You'd think this was a slagging funeral, the way you two never react.”

Neon Tiger, the original, shrugged simply for his part. “At least they don't panic in a fight?”

Mapteron smirked at them. “More or less.”

* * *

Signa's voice came over the comms some time after Dex's confirmation, “Alright, people. Hard fight, well won, but now the long hard road of clean-up needs to start. Anyone suffering grade 2 injuries or worse, report to medical. Hunters, help the wounded who can't mobilize as a priority. Anyone else, we need a clean perimeter around that wreck of a fortress as soon as possible. We'll cycle folks out in shifts for recharge.”

He sighed as he closed the channel for a moment. “I'll report to the field to help start on that. Operators have logistics handled?”

Alia, clearly rejuvenated from relief, nodded quickly. “I've got it, Commander, if Dex and Iris need to recharge?”

Dex chuckled. “Hah, no. I'm working here.”

Iris giggled a bit. “Plenty of energy left myself, sir!”

The commander center gate opened that moment, with a very tired-looking Zero and X marching in.

Alia started to clap, and Dex and Iris quickly followed her example. Signas just turned with a smirk and a salute. The two saluted back, and X shared a little smile with Alia before he looked back to Signas and Zero.

“Want us out there on clean-up?” X started.

Zero side-eyed him for it, but didn't voice a disagreement.

Signas chuckled. “You two need recharge and probably repairs.”

Zero lifted his hand to agree with that lightly. Then he shared a little smile with Iris, who blushed happily, hiding with her work station.

Alia raised her hand a little, “Actually! If... it's not too much trouble, X would be very helpful in getting that clone Tiger and Dr. Doppler properly situated?”

X nodded. “Of course, I'd be happy to help.” He waved a hand awkwardly. “I also have, uh... three more Mavericks' personality drives and buffers to turn in.”

Everyone stopped and stared for a beat.

“Bit, Byte, and Vile,” X murmured awkwardly. “Should probably be secured, but they deserve proper psych-evals... and such.”

Alia relaxed into a happy smile. She knew what that had to mean for him. “Well! Let's get them situated, too, hm?”

Signas glanced between the two, then shrugged. “Sounds logical enough. Make sure they're secured if they're not found clean of the virus at this point. And Alia, you're approved to make medical arrangements to assist them with disinfection.”

Alia saluted, and actually hopped up. “Sorry, guys!”

Dex waved it down, and Iris just gave a little thumbs-up before focusing back to work.

Once Alia and X jogged out of the command center, Signas looked back to Zero.

“Things go well?”

Zero shrugged. “Well enough, hm? I'm gonna go get that recharge.”

* * *

A few days later, most of the wreckage clean-up was well under way across all of Doppler Town. There was some discussion of converting it to simple civilian city and infrastructure with how abysmally the 'Reploid Utopia' had failed and shown to be a deception from the start.

The political scene had become tense and afraid, dangerously so. The Maverick Hunters were kept busy with clean-up and basic security monitoring by order of the council. Everyone assumed this was to keep their voice out of certain discussions.

X was waiting, somewhat impatiently, to be called into a summons by Dr. Cain and some of the council visiting HQ. He'd known this was inevitable, and was calculating how to maintain his plan despite what was coming, but sitting here, idle, while so much clean-up had to be done was driving him mad.

A familiar set of heavy footfalls called his attention upward, and he smiled.

“Depthcharge! Great to see you on your feet!” X stood himself.

Depthcharge offered a sincere, though wan smile, fully aware of the context for X. “Thank you, X. I'm glad you're unhurt at least. I... apologize for the timing, but I needed to speak with you, and it's been too busy to catch you otherwise.”

X blinked, but nodded. “Of course, go ahead.”

“It's regarding Jessica... Well, somewhat. It's about me, but... Mm,” Depthcharge groaned at himself, rubbing part of his head-plating.

X blinked again, this time becoming pensive. Then he smiled gently. “You're going to stay with her?”

Depthcharge stared in shock for a pulse. “Y... Yes. Did you... monitor me...?” He had to ask, though it didn't quite seem the way X would check on things.

X chuckled, shaking his head. “No, no, I've no reason to monitor you guys,” he kept it vague for their location's sake. “You and Jessica share something unique. Special. When she came so immediately to make sure you were okay, I knew it wasn't just a special bond on your side.”

Depthcharge sighed with some relief, tension leaving his frame, and he nodded. “Exactly so... You aren't upset with my decision?”

X shook his head. “I've always wanted people to be able to live their lives, Depthcharge. Our friends aren't an exception to that hope. We'll miss you in battle, but I don't think anyone would begrudge you finding some peace in this world.”

“I'm technically a... risk,” Depthcharge phrased gently and dropped his voice lower.

X raised an eyebrow, then smirked mildly. “No more than I. Go on. Let her know I'm happy for you two, hm?”

Depthcharge offered his massive hand. “...I can't repay what you've done for me. Or us.”

X shook the hand, however mismatched the sizes were. “It was never about repayment. Thank you. Stay safe out there, alright?”

Depthcharge nodded, eased back somewhat awkwardly, and then turned to depart.

Only a moment later, the doors near X finally opened, an attendant confirming X was to enter next. X exhaled, and strode into the office.

Councilor Teagan, Dr. Cain, and the couple of other councilors present didn't surprise X. He was mildly startled to see Signas, but considering this was a top-down action on the Hunters, he realized it was foolish to be so.

Signas stood straight to the right, Dr. Cain opposite, with Teagan leading the other councilors in the center. X saluted once he stopped, Signas returning it so he could stand at-ease.

Councilor Teagan smirked faintly. “Do you know why we've called you in, Maverick Hunter X?”

X remained serious, only saying, “I can't be certain, sir. May I ask why?”

Dr. Cain wrung his hands on the grip of his walking aid. “There are several records providing evidence of you acting counter to orders, or operating independently of Hunter Command, X. A full investigation is warranted. Hunters under investigation are suspended, pending results.”

Teagan gestured to Dr. Cain's answer, and kept his little smile. “It would appear you're not just stubborn in front of cameras, X.”

One of the other councilors coughed firmly, and Teagan rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, there's a silver lining for your suspension,” Teagan continued, “as before, no one can really argue with your results, not even our investigators. As such, your B-class ranking will not be affected unless the investigation yields results consistent with termination of your rank. If that happens...”

Dr. Cain grimly finished, “You will be mechanically disarmed, and reduced to civilian status.”

Internally, X did feel a pang of outrage that they'd try to pull Dr. Light-given systems out of his body, but that emotionally reaction was well contained by how much he knew about what was going on around him. “Understood, sir, councilors. Am I dismissed?”

Signas actually spoke next. “I moved for your suspension to be partial rather than full, X, and the council has been gracious enough to allow it. You are to function as an operator under Lt. Alia's supervision until further notice. Any action to deploy will be grounds for reprimand. Is this status clear?”

X blinked, eyebrows up. //...Thank you, Signas.// “Y-yes, sir. I am grateful to be allowed to help.”

Signas showed a faint smile before his official nod, nothing more.

Dr. Cain set his cane to one side to get attention, still appearing grave himself. “The council has been given authority and mandate to begin the creation of the Reploid Defense Force. A military organization under human command. It will be the first-responder to extreme outbreaks like Doppler Town in future.”

Councilor Teagan smiled again. “It will be formed after Dr. Cain has finished developing certain safe guards for its purposes.”

X and Signas both tightened their eyes.

X asked, “May I know what kind of safeguards?”

Councilor Teagan seemed to relish the question, but was silent. Perhaps he was enjoying not telling X.

Dr. Cain answered, which startled the councilors.

“The Cain Anti-Virus will be set-up as a fail-safe trigger inside new Reploids intended for the RDF, as well as retrofitted to any Reploids who opt to join it.”

Signas had to stop himself from taking a step, X showing clear alarm, barely held from shouting out.

Teagan grumbled a bit, “That was supposed to be classified, Dr. Cain...”

Dr. Cain started toward the exit, startling X as much as anyone else in the room. “It's a small matter. I will be resigning from public Reploid work once the fail-safe design is completed to the council's specifications.”

X twisted on a foot, but couldn't bring himself to speak, just looking after the aged human who hobbled out of view... and was lost to closing doors.

* * *

The X-Hunter bunker had been mostly quiet during the Doppler Town war, but a few weeks after the fall of the outbreak, X and his full team had finally managed to coordinate a way to meet in person without arousing suspicion.

The now hefty force of Reploids, save for the Doppler ex-Mavericks who opted to show themselves as victims of the infection rather than go undercover, were scattered around the central space of the bunker, with Signas, Alia, and X clustered to one side.

The trio had just finished making sure everyone was fully up to date on what was happening. X leaned onto his knees where he sat as he wrapped up.

“...So that's where we are. This... Repliforce they're starting to call it, is already approaching recruitment and manufacturing phase. The lethal anti-virus is being used as a fail-safe implant in Repliforce members. And I'm now one of Alia's support personnel, officially.”

There was some mild humor shared among everyone, Alia's smile widening just a touch especially.

Pyrostrike spoke up first, “Does this change the long-term plan? It'll be difficult for you to position yourself as you intend after all this.”

Signas and Alia looked to X along with the others.

“Difficult, yes, but we've bought time with ousting the last outbreak, too. I'll be working closely with Alia not only to maintain appearances, but to help prepare for future outbreaks until we either see a better opening, or my leash is relaxed enough to put the true plan back on the forefront.”

“So delayed, not failed?” Mapteron chose to confirm.

X nodded.

Shimmer angled his head, eyeing X shrewdly. “Do you intend to tone down your overt disregard for hierarchy in the next outbreak?”

X half-smiled at the serious point. “Honestly, Shimmer, I was trying to lay groundwork for the plan without risking innocent lives. I will... I intend to maintain that approach short of actually debilitating my ability to function.”

“Technically, aren't you debilitated now?” Inferno challenged, though he didn't seem upset.

“You're right. I didn't calculate all of my choices properly. ...If you all have specific changes you'd like to see me make, I'm listening...”

Alia nudged his arm. “Less calculating, more care, maybe?”

Several nods, affirmations, and little chuckles resounded around the X-Hunters.

X chuckled back, sinking his head with a nod. “Understood.” Calming to seriousness, he went on, “Repliforce is going to be a problem no matter how we look at it. Please be discrete, but we need information sources on it going forward. It's a massive, juicy target for the virus once it's established.”

“And it's already getting a lot of Maverick Hunter recruits,” Airstrike added, grim as well.

Signas nodded. “We have to play this delicately. We're being forced to treat friendlies as potential threats. This is very dangerous ground to tread. Stay alert, and stay cautious.”

A stronger affirmation resounded though the bunker before they started to scatter.

* * *

Zero stood calmly, arms folded, as a new Reploid stepped down from a medpod. He resembled a stylized beast of some kind, with wicked blades for toes that were nearly as long as Zero's limbs, and a powerfully built upper body. The overall frame was mostly browns and silvers.

“You certainly look ready for a fight,” Zero commented dryly.

“Don't I? Can call me Slash Beast now,” the new Reploid replied with a fairly pleasant smile.

“Close enough to Neon Tiger's persona to feel comfortable, but different enough to be yourself?” Zero tested more seriously, raising an eyebrow as Slash stepped closer to him.

Slash nodded. “Exactly. My style is my style, it's how I move and think, but I can get used to some new techniques and a name. And was better to do it sooner rather than later before the original Neon Tiger got annoyed, hm?”

Zero chuckled. “Not sure I could handle that so easily as you. Welcome aboard.”

Slash shook his hand. “Pleasure. Eager to see what I can do to help.”

Zero gestured back after reciprocating the shake. “Check in with Dex in the command center, he'll get you situated.”

Slash saluted, and then sprinted out of the medbay with a purpose.

Zero took a breath once he was alone, closing his eyes. _I never would have bothered sparing a clone produced by the virus. I wouldn't have believed it was worth the risk... Now... I'm just not sure of anything right now._

Someone entered the medbay that moment, but Zero was too deep in thought to react much beyond his instincts confirming the person wasn't moving in a threatening way.

“...Sir?”

Zero blinked, and twisted to face, “Iris? You... look upset.” He frowned as he realized why her voice had been so much softer than normal.

Iris offered a wan smile. “Sorry to worry you, sir. I... had a disagreement with my brother about what I came to you to say.”

Zero's brow creased. “...You're unhurt physically?”

Iris blinked, then waved her hands. “Oh, no, no! My brother would never harm me, Zero.” She blushed as she slipped with his name so casually.

Zero did ease a bit. “Sorry, just... paranoid. Anyway, what is it you wished to say to me?”

Iris faded back to an almost ill-looking anxiety as she looked down at their feet. She was struggling to pull her words together. Zero could see that much, and didn't egg her on as he normally would have. Things had finally calmed down, he didn't have to push for lives on the line.

“I'm quitting.”

She'd forced the words out, looking up to his eyes out of courage, but hunched down from anxiety.

Zero was just confused, not angry. “...Why?”

Iris flexed her hands a few times, straightening a little. “I... I'm not comfortable here, anymore. Tracking allies, informing on them, working against each other when there's a much worse evil to fight. I... I just can't do this, Zero,” she finished in a choked voice, starting to weep.

Zero winced, but was mentally caught himself. He wanted her to stay, to show her it was alright, things would be better, but another part of him knew this place wasn't healthy for her. She'd always felt guilty about what he'd asked her to do. And part of him now regretted asking her to do it...

His fingers flexed a few times... and then finally Zero eased forward, pulling Iris into an embrace.

Iris gasped, her eyes flaring, but she never tried to pull away. After a moment, the reality of his embrace sank in, and she coiled her arms around him, burying her face in his torso as she sobbed, “T-thank you...!”

Zero caressed her hair, and stayed quiet as he just held her for several moments.

At last, her voice returned. “Aren't you upset with me?”

“No... Your brother was?”

She nodded meekly into his front. “And he... he intends to join the Repliforce. He wanted me to go with him.”

Zero stiffened, but he hadn't forgotten Colonel's interest in the concept.

“I'm sorry!” Iris squeaked, feeling his jerk.

Zero realized what he'd done, and shook his head, caressing her hair again. “Sshh,” he offered softly first. “I just have to talk with him, too. ...I'll miss working with you, Iris.”

Iris eased, and nodded more easily. She was in no rush to escape his arms. “And I you, Zero. I... really admire you for all you do.”

Zero half-smiled. “I know I'm too harsh for your style, Iris, it's okay.”

She eased back only enough to look up to his eyes, offering a sweet smile despite her watery eyes. “I think I'm a little too soft for your style, you mean? You're the hero.”

Zero shook his head, gently sad for the topic. “I'm not a hero, Iris. I'm just... trying to do what needs doing.” He took a breath. “...Would you mind if I checked in on you on occasion?”

Iris' face lit up brighter. “Not at all. Please do...”

Zero nodded to her, and only then released his hug. “See you around, alright?”

Iris gave a soft bow. “See you around, Zero.”

They shared a warm smile before she hurried off, likely to finalize her retirement. It left Zero saddened... and them determined as he thought on Colonel, before leaving the medbay with a purpose himself.

* * *

“Unless you intend to enslave me to the Maverick Hunters, sir, my decision is final,” Colonel returned sternly to Zero's challenge of his choice.

Zero tossed a hand out. “Colonel, think for a minute! The infection thrives on Reploids who are specialized for combat, especially in places of influence or tactical importance! Repliforce is a catastrophe waiting to happen! We need you here!”

Colonel set his jaw. “You've already poisoned my sister against my ethics enough, Zero, I'll not tolerate more of this. Maverick Hunters scramble to barely accomplish anything. Mavericks with mechaniloids held us at bay for months! Repliforce is the kind of systemic response we've needed! My pride demands I serve!”

“Your pride is going to get you—AND YOUR SISTER—killed!”

The roar of Zero's voice seemed to startle both of them.

Colonel slowly narrowed his eyes after his start. “My sister is a noncombatant, thanks to you, Zero. I will do what I must.”

Zero clenched his fists as Colonel twisted to leave the small meeting room. “...Do you really think deaths to infected will be limited to Repliforce personnel in the future?”

Colonel paused in silence for a moment, but only turned his head to reply, “Repliforce will protect the civilians better than the Hunters ever have.”

Zero watched him march away. Once alone, he twisted and punched a dent into the wall. “...I wish I could blame the virus for this... but this is on us...”

* * *

Alia eased into Dr. Cain's lab with some trepidation. A hand trailing off the frame, she looked around in the mostly quiet lab.

“...Dr. Cain... sir...?”

With all that was going on so suddenly with Repliforce initiating, X's public status, and Dr. Cain announcing his soon-to-be-effective retirement, she was more than a little anxious of why he'd called her...

“Yes, sorry, Alia. Over here.”

His voice drifted from the back-right corner, clearly distracted by something he was working on.

Alia jogged over lightly, her body pinging softly, little hisses and clicks resounding. “Did you need a lab-assistant, sir?” She was trying to be professional, but had a secondary motive for the offer. If she could get close to the actual data he was working on, she might be able to grab the coding she would need to help deal with the anti-virus before it slaughtered otherwise rescueable Reploids.

“Not exactly,” Dr. Cain muttered, and pulled a small datachip from his console, offering it to her casually as he continued working. “Check this data for me. Need a second pair of eyes.”

Alia blinked, but took the chip, and plugged it into a secondary drive in her forearm. She was confused for a beat, then felt like an idiot for showing it on her face. She quickly made a show of going to the console near Dr. Cain, and using one screen, as if she was simply reviewing secondary data.

What he'd actually given her was a local-comm clearance key. Once she used it, a message started to play on her internal comm.

//I don't have the benefit of internal comms, so I had to prepare this indirectly,// the message began, Dr. Cain's voice, low and raspy. //Though I have some frustrations with how X handled himself, he was right. The government has pushed my anti-virus too far, too fast. It never should be applied like this. When you're ready, I'm going to hand you a generic progress report. It will have an encrypted secondary message. Use the same key I just gave you. Both messages will hard-erase after being used once, so you must not lose the data. It should help you avoid a catastrophe.//

Alia kept her calm expression as she confirmed the key-code had just erased itself. She offered the chip back to him. “It seems to be in order, sir. Would you like me to deliver the progress report for you, or do you need a little more time to compose it?”

Dr. Cain just nodded as he worked, put the chip back into its slot, and then pulled a dataslate up to offer to her. “Thank you, Alia. Carry on.”

Alia took the dataslate, but as she turned she touched his shoulder. She didn't speak, and she couldn't linger too long, but he did pause to glance toward her, and she smiled briefly before she moved off.

* * *

“X, have a minute?”

X blinked back at Zero, awkwardly twisting to face him properly. “Uh, I think, yeah! Was just going to get some assignments from Alia...”

Zero half-smiled, though there was a sadder note to it for some reason this time. “For a punishment, I think you got off pretty good.”

X chuckled. “I did. So what's on your mind? You seem... out of sorts.”

Zero nodded. “I am. Iris quit, and Colonel has joined Repliforce. I've been hearing whispers of dozens of Hunters looking to join it. As much as you and I disagreed this time, I think we've been on the same page about Repliforce...”

X wasn't surprised by the news, he'd kept aware of it, but Zero's emotional weight from it was what really got his attention. Sympathetic, concerned, X lifted a hand up to rest on Zero's shoulder, which somewhat surprised the red Reploid. “We'll figure something out to help avoid the worst case scenario with Repliforce. And I'm sure Iris would love it if you visited her...”

Zero started to nod a little, then blinked at the second comment. “W-what...?”

X blinked, then started to smile at the faint blush on Zero's cheeks. “Something wrong with visiting someone you care about?”

“N-no... but you're making it sound weird,” Zero finished with glum, mostly joking distrust.

“Go visit Iris, Zero.”

Zero turned outright dismal. “I'm pretty sure she wants some sp--!?”

X actually moved closer, shoving Zero along lightly. “Go. Check. On. Iris. Zero.”

Zero stumbled along awkwardly, mostly going along out of social shock. “Are you serious—Wouldyouj—Xstoppit!”

And he was through the closest door, which X shut.

Zero muffled through, “I'm only going to check on her because you've weirded me out and now I'm worried!”

X grinned. “Whatever works!”

Zero marched off, grumbling.

* * *

Just a few moments later, X stepped out onto the roof of HQ, spotting Alia at the railing. She glanced over her shoulder, her elbows on the bar, smiling at him as he came around to join her there.

“So is there a specific reason I'm getting my assignments on the roof? Or did I tick you off MUCH worse than I thought I had?” X started with a light chuckle.

Alia smirked at him, handing him a dataslate with a list of tasks. “Your assignments. I was also trying to think about how to give you something, but everyone's so paranoid now, you can never be sure if we're being watched and stuff, right?”

X blinked up from the dataslate. “...I suppose so, but why...”

Alia seemed to touch her lips for a moment... and then reached over, tipping X backward with a mild shout of surprise, right before she silenced him with a kiss on his lips that she held rather securely while supporting his head and back.

X was so startled he flailed mildly for one pulse, then blushed violently while savoring the completely unexpected sensation... and then realized she was passing him something from her mouth. It had been just behind her lips.

X managed to flick it back into his own mouth without breaking the kiss, and then Alia's gestures softened, settling into a truly affectionate touch before she eased him back upright, and stood aside with a mild blush and a playfully innocent demeanor as she hid her lips with her hand again.

“Ahem. Figure that's more worth reporting than a list of tasks on a dataslate...”

X cleared his throat, and used a gesture of his hand shyly touching his lips to discretely shift the small device she'd slipped him into his hand, and then down into a storage unit at his back. His blush was very bright and very real. “Y-yeah. Fraternization is... um... problematic. Especially, you know... being as you're my superior. And such.”

Alia leaned at him dryly. “If you're feeling uncomfortable, you should report me,” and she casually started back to the exit door.

X had to try to tease back, leaning off the rail after her, “Don't suppose agreeing not to would get a repeat?”

Alia gave him a playful glare over her shoulder. “Don't push your luck, mister,” and she slipped back inside.

It let both of them take a happy breath and smile before they mutually shook their heads out of the clouds, and focused back on task.

X activated the chip she'd given to him so 'discretely', and processed it while feigning to look over his assignments. His mood became more and more serious. _The anti-virus trigger mechanism. We can create a bypass with this data... Thank you, Dr. Cain._ X closed his eyes with a bowed head. _I'll help make this right._

* * *

Iris gave a big stretch to loosen her servos. She had finally finished unpacking her things from Gate's lab in her new apartment in the city. There had been some bureaucratic issues with her getting an apartment, but they'd cleared up abruptly that morning, allowing her to get moved in.

Enjoying the satisfaction of completing the simple task, she glanced out her window, admiring the twilight cityscape. The part of Maverick Hunter HQ she could see from her new home caused a pang of regret, but she firmed herself, remembering all that had pushed her to this decision in the first place.

She jumped with a yelp as her doorbell rang.

Who would even know where she'd moved? She hadn't updated her brother yet... Hurrying to the door, she checked who it was, and a brilliant blush flared on her cheeks. She squeaked, coughed, and tried to compose herself before opening the door with a sweet smile. “Z-Zero! Hello!” Her mind was privately screaming in both confusion and joy, _HOW DID YOU FIND ME SO FAST!?_

Zero offered her his casual, but charming smile, and lifted a hand from behind himself. It offered a single, purple and yellow, orchid. “House warming gift. And an apology.”

Iris blinked several times before softly taking the flower, staring down at it. She was in enough shock to need a moment, then finally rattled her head to look up at him. “W-why apologize? B-but thankyouforthegift!” she quickly added in social panic.

Zero momentarily thought about asking to come inside, but felt uncomfortable being that pushy, so he just swallowed his embarrassment about standing in the hallway. “Because I pushed you to do things that made you so uncomfortable you left a job you're extremely good at. I respect your decision,” he added with a lifted hand to ease her instincts. “I just... needed to apologize.”

Iris's frame loosened at last, gentler surprise replacing her shock. “...You believed you were doing the right thing, Zero. You shouldn't apologize for that,” she finished with a little teasing smile.

He shrugged. “Not entirely sure of that anymore.”

Her eyes widened subtly. She was concerned for him now. He wasn't the type to doubt himself. And that was when she finally realized he was still standing outside her door. She jerked back. “P-please, come in! We should talk.”

Zero blinked, but smiled out of it, and stepped past her to glance around. “Oh, hey, this place is really nice. Downright homey.” He leaned to idly inspect a small sculpture she'd placed in her living room.

Iris blushed, but found herself smiling as she brought her flower with her to the small kitchen adjoining the room. “Thank you. You're officially my first guest!” She giggled as she placed the flower in a small glass with some water.

Zero turned to smile at her, momentarily caught by how appealing the view was. She was pleasant, happy, just... living. He'd never realized how foreign that was to him before... “A-anyway, I wasn't intending to crash in on you, just wanted to bring you that little gift and the apology.”

Iris giggled again, calming to his presence after her spike of concern for him. “No crashing here, don't worry. I just realized we hadn't spoken... as friends. And you don't usually doubt yourself.”

Zero met her eyes in soft surprise. He fell into a weak smile, glancing down. “...True. It's just... once you explained why you were retiring, it made me start thinking. I started... seeing how my choices added to the problems we're facing now.” He leaned back to rest against the back of her couch. “I... don't actually know what to do anymore. X worries me, but he's not... hurting anyone. Dr. Cain made a huge mistake, but seems to realize it, just too late. So I... I can't help feeling like I made mistakes, too. Too focused on the wrong things.”

Iris came around, and touched his arm, calling his eyes back to hers. “Then you just have to decide the right things, and focus there.” She smiled again.

Zero smiled back. “...I think I'm starting to...”

Her smile turned more bashful.

* * *

Jessica exhaled leisurely as she tugged a shawl tighter around her shoulders. She was curled up on a big chair, near a natural fire, with a good book in hand. Old fashioned, but that ran in her family. Taking that pause from her book, she looked out the closest window, a gentle smile with a touch of sadness forming as she admired the rolling green hills around her cottage, with bright cities on the distant horizon.

'Someone'—she was fairly confident who—had supplemented her small pension from her work before all this Maverick insanity, and allowed her to buy this delightful home in the country. She was far from groceries and such, but the peace was well worth it.

She did feel a pang of sadness for him, though...

Something caught her eye, and she blinked, leaning out of her seat to get a better look. Her eyes widened, then delight lit her features before she scrambled to her door, and bolted outside, all but sprinting down the little hill from her home.

Depthcharge looked up in surprise as she burst out. His instincts alerted him to possibly some threat she was trying to escape... but his optics finally saw her tearfully happy face as she ran toward him.

He hurried a few strides more before she leaped up at him, leaving no time for debate. Depthcharge laughed as he carefully caught her hug, her arms tightening around his durable neck.

“You came! You came...” her voice softened to a near sob as she hung tight.

Depthcharge smiled gently as he knelt down to let her feet touch the ground again, his hands shifting to gently rest against her torso and her hair, as much as they could for their size. “Your home is beautiful.”

She laughed softly. “It is! ...Thank you for helping me get it.”

He blinked, and glanced off in mild embarrassment. He should've realized his pretense of hiding the money source was a bit foolish.

Jessica only then eased enough to stand a step back from him, her hands staying at his chest as she beamed up at him. “How long can you stay?”

Depthcharge would've been blushing if he had the face for it, and she could tell. He glanced off again, rubbing the back of his head. “A-actually, I... ahem... retired...”

Jessica blinked, completely stunned silent, frozen.

Depthcharge just looked at her meekly, shrinking a bit the longer the silence went on.

She rattled her head a little, some water returning to her eyes. “What about... You meant what you said. You had to stay...”

Depthcharge swallowed as a social cue system. “I realized that... I need to keep you safe more than that. And... I can do that best, if you... allow me to stick around... nearby...”

Jessica's eyes widened again, gentle tears dripping free. “You... came to be with me...?”

He nodded softly. “If you allow it.”

She grinned, then laughed with a sob, and hugged him again. “My family is home again...”

All he could do was hug her tight.

* * *

Things began to settle down more smoothly. The Maverick Hunters lost significant numbers to Repliforce recruitment, but it brought the remaining units closer together. Crush Crawfish actually took Depthcharge's position in Unit 14 once he passed his review exams.

Bit, Byte, and Vile were given noncombat, generic bodies, and secured under psychiatric observation for the time being. Bit and Byte showed promise for recovery now that Doppler's outbreak was handled, but Vile very much appeared to be a psychotic creature with too-violent tendencies.

Dr. Doppler himself, once confirmed cured, actually retired from his private lab, and joined a local medical practice. It seemed to offer him some sense of peace.

However, not everyone was so grateful for the peacetime break.

Gate stepped into an elevator in his lab, and pressed in a specific sequence of floors. The lift then went straight down for several seconds, before opening out into a dark computer lab of some kind. He moved through it, his labcoat rippling softly, and he came to a data-screen. It illuminated in a black and green interface.

“I see things didn't quite go as intended, master. What is the next plan?”

Sigma's voice came through the console, garbled, but clear enough. “The humans have finally doomed themselves in their panic. All we have to do is nudge the right pieces into play. We'll need something dramatic to set things off once we're prepared.”

Gate rubbed his chin. “I might have an idea for that, master. However, my projects are not yet complete, they may not be ready in time to take advantage of the human mistakes.”

Sigma chuckled. “Oh trust me... they won't even be necessary... this time.”

End, Chronicle 3


End file.
